Reclamation
THEY TRIED TO BURY US. THEY DIDN’T KNOW WE WERE SEEDS.
MY RELIC is a contemporary view on the Armenian culture, the trials and tribulations of the Armenian people, their ability to survive and thrive amongst adversaries- through the lens of Armenian female artists.
Each of the three pop- up exhibits explores the ability to heal, move forward, and grow through a variety of themes broadly construed as “relics”. Translating this concept from the lexicon of the sacred and historical, relics are also non-static objects, ever-living, that narrate and construct our subjectivities anew. In each installation relics are considered through the concept of breaking bread, the collection of items passed down through generations, and salvation.
She Loves Collective dedicates this work to the Armenian people of Artsakh- in honor of the soldiers who lost their lives, the families who lost their homes and right to exist on their ancestral homelands, and over 100 prisoners of war held captive by Azerbaijan today.
We are with you. You are in our heart.
THEY TRIED TO BURY US. THEY DIDN’T KNOW WE WERE SEEDS.
A large-scale black and white mirrored photograph of Mount Ararat, the home of the mythological pantheon and biblical symbol of the Armenian homeland. Since the 1921 Treaty of Moscow and Treaty of Kars, Ararat lies just beyond the Armenian borders in Turkey. Spreading out from this backdrop, dirt sown with grass and flower seed has been strewn on the ground and with the coming of spring, is beginning to sprout. First chaotic and then progressively ordered, hundreds of pairs of shoes, locally donated, emerge from the dirt and walk towards the base of Ararat. Painted white symbolizing new beginnings. Among the shoes, in the center, is a single pair of military boots with forget-me-not flowers sprouting from them- the flower was the official symbol of the 100th year commemorating the Armenian Genocide.
Reclamation is a room that contains the elements of loss and survival: earth, sun, water and fire. The concept remembers the civilians and soldiers who fought and perished in Armenians most recent border-struggle: the 44-day, Turkish-backed Armenian-Azerbaijani war in Fall 2020 over the self-declared Armenian autonomous Republic of Nagorno Karabakh/Artsakh, during which Armenians lost swaths of historic lands to Azerbaijani and Turkish militants. Yet, emerging from the dirt towards the symbol of the national home, the shoes move towards the mountain. Rising out from the dirt that has remained on these lands since the great flood, the memories ignited by these shoes, once submerged, come back up for breath in a conscious act of reclamation—making a clamant call; clamare from the Latin, “to cry out.” Reclamation is the urgent cry, the act of resistance, and knowing what is just, reclaiming justice for oneself. A reclamation does not ask permission. It does not give the state the power, endlessly pleading with it to give us that right or acknowledgement. Instead, facing Ararat, we claim it back for and by ourselves, asking no one for permission to move it beyond its pain, beyond its sorrow; to move us beyond those borders.
MEDIUM
Printed photography on canvas, donated & up-cycled shoes, dirt, rocks & pebbles, grass, forget-me-not flowers, tarp, sprouting lentils and wheat seeds, chicken wire, construction debris.
Please be sure to credit @shelovescollective in any photos shared. We encourage the use of the hashtags #MYRELIC #BreakingBread #Lavash #Lavashed #Relic #Relics #Reclamation #ArmenianGenocideRemembrance #ArmenianHistoryMonth
