"Barsamian: 20 Years-Searching For The Answer" Traveling Exhibit About The Armenian Genocide Opens At Holocaust Memorial Center, Mich., March 27
Exhibit, "BARSAMIAN: 20 YEARS-SEARCHING FOR THE ANSWER," opens at Holocaust Memorial Center in Farmington Hills, Mich., on March 27. Compiled by artist Robert Barsamian, looking at Armenian genocide.
- Austin-San Marcos, TX (1888PressRelease) February 17, 2011 - A new traveling exhibit will be on display at the Holocaust Memorial Center Zekelman Family Campus in Farmington Hills, Mich., beginning Sunday, March 27, 2011. The exhibit, "BARSAMIAN: 20 YEARS-SEARCHING FOR THE ANSWER," which is on display through July 10, explores questions about the Armenian genocide through art. Dallas-based artist Robert Barsamian is of Armenian descent. He raises the question: Can art help in understanding the history, the memory and the trauma?
The Holocaust Center is located at 28123 Orchard Lake Road in Farmington Hills.
The grand opening, which is open to the public, will be at 7 p.m. on Sunday, March 27. Guest speaker will be Dr. Ara Sanjian, director of the Armenian Research Center at the University of Michigan - Dearborn. Sanjian studied for five years in Armenia and then earned his Ph.D. at the School of African and Oriental Studies of the University of London, with a dissertation on Turkey and the Baghdad Pact (1950s). Prior to his appointment here, he was the Chairman of the Department of Armenian Studies at Haigazian University in Beirut and one of the editors of the Haigazian Armenological Review. Sanjian also served as the Kazan Visiting Professor in Armenian History at California State University, Fresno during the 2003-2004 academic year. Barsamian will also be present.
Beginning in 1915, Turkish soldiers massacred more than 1.5 million Armenian men, women and children - roughly three quarters of the population. The soldiers were ordered by their government to eliminate the problem of the nationalistic and sometimes revolutionary Armenian population. Prior to that, the Turkish government had been persecuting and unfairly taxing the people. The genocide and its aftermath led Hitler to cite it as a precedent for his own actions against the Polish and Jewish people.
The moving art installation was inspired by the childhood memories Barsamian's grandmother Luco told him of deportation, marches, mass murders and corpses hidden away in caves. Its goal is to create a safe place for raising awareness, telling stories, meditating and healing.
During the 1980s, Barsamian decided to address the questions of the Armenian genocide through art. The process was time-consuming and obsessive, but also rewarding. Barsamian, like many second- and third-generation Armenian-Americans, deals with a past, as with the Holocaust, that was hidden by the victim generation. It was only in the 1960s and 1970s that Armenians began to speak openly about the massacres of 1915-1922.
In the exhibit, Barsamian incorporates visual clues from his heritage - the colors of the Armenian flag, the Byzantine-style Christian crosses and large letters from an antique folk art based on bird forms. On the golden walls are large, evocative paintings of symbols from Luco stories with narrative text, poetry by Peter Balakian - also of Armenian descent - and religious objects. Included too are portraits of Barsamian's grandmother and his mother who came in 1919 as an infant to America.
The Holocaust Memorial Center executive director Stephen Goldman said, "This exhibit will fascinate, educate and arouse viewers' interest and sympathy. At the Holocaust Memorial Center, we recognize that there are lessons for humanity in all mass atrocities. By bringing this exhibit here, we are showing the universalities the Armenians share with us and hope that visitors come away determined to speak out against similar events and victimizations still occurring in other countries."
This exhibit is presented by the Alex and Marie Manoogian Foundation and the Masco Corporation Foundation. It is co-sponsored by the Knights and Daughters of Vartan, Darakjian Jewelers, Lisa Keramedjian Meer & Brian Meer, Robert Ajemian Foundation and Hagopian World of Rugs.
The Holocaust Memorial Center encourages visitors to tour this emotionally engaging exhibit. The museum hours are: Sunday - Thursday, 9:30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. (last admission at 3:30 p.m.); and Friday, 9:30 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. (last admission at 1:30 p.m.). The museum is closed on Saturday and public holidays. There is an admission fee.
For more information, call 248-553-2400, or visit www.holocaustcenter.org.
It is the mission of the Holocaust Memorial Center Zekelman Family Campus to remember those who perished and those who survived the Holocaust and, in a world increasingly faced with sectarian strife and intolerance, to set forth the lessons of Holocaust as a model for teaching ethical conduct and responsible decision-making. By highlighting those individuals who, in the midst of evil, stood for the best, rather than the worst of human nature, the Holocaust Memorial Center seeks to contribute to maintaining an open and free society.
The facility is wheelchair accessible and free parking is available at both the North and South entrances.
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