To be free?

I am Interested in the ontology of freedom, particularly as it pertains to the American paradigm. The current search centers on the notion of 'ascendance,' through oil paintings, performance, and forthcoming sculptures made from clay, fabric, paper, military uniforms and soil.

The representation of feet and shoes are emblematic mediators of attachment and detachment. A recent encounter sparked a dialectical exchange when a viewer asked if the paintings referenced a foot fetish. My reflexive response—“fetish for some, genocide for others”—has since become the title of the piece. While sexuality and play are present layers in my work, my contemplations are driven by my Armenian background and its history of loss. The pairs of shoes depicted span a kaleidoscopic array of epochs, lifestyles, and identities—ranging from the glamorous to the archaic—evoking the bohemian, the corporate and the dispossessed child enmeshed in conflict's aftermath.

Ultimately, the focus transcends the shoes, the labels and the associations, the essence lies in the act of ambulation itself. This exploration envisions a reality where freedom and love for life eclipse the ephemeral allure of possession.

September 2023, Yerevan

Food had no taste that September; maybe that whole year. The sun attempted to offer comfort. With the first autumn leaves, the wind swirled the news of Artsakhtsis cleaning their homes, packing small bags of sentimental necessities, and joining an endless caravan towards Armenia. Donation points appeared all over Yerevan, where I was, collecting towels, bedding, sanitary goods, anything to alleviate the fate of our soon-arriving compatriots. We were in denial of the word ‘refugee’. It was temporary. 

United waiting... ‘We must be lucky that most Artsakhtsis survived the blockade and dislocation’, I attempted to invent hope while googling ‘Molotov Cocktail recipe’. In a dim room with smoke and spirits and no music, we ripped apart the whole ordeal of today’s world. Vulgar slurs dedicated to the foul historians rewriting our experienced reality so that a Harvard-educated Colombian rheumatologist can assert me with ‘no such thing as Armenian Genocide’. Damn, this rotten business of washing smaller peoples’ stories into oblivion by larger wars in better-positioned nations. The most disarming was the growing awareness of our generational contribution to this experienced present. Can we keep Armenia safe?

A demand for silence followed the shuffled September spew. Studio isolation. Finally grounded. But desiring to abandon the burdening shoes stuck to the spiky terra of agony, to fly above the fields of shame sprouted from humiliation and blossoming bitterness watered by neglect. Perhaps then, the food will have taste again.”

Previously focused on inclusion, togetherness, and collective consciousness, the new work is born out of experienced themes of loss, isolation, extermination and intercultural forgiveness. With Armenian heritage, the word ‘forgiveness’ holds a complex personal significance and remains a subject for contemplation.

The small squares of feet serve as studies of intimacy and relational dynamics—an area I have explored more in depth in previous series as well. Each title abbreviates the contemplative angle of the piece: "Gone Together," "Early Crop" and "Heart Opener". ‘Ascendance’ remains the visual theme of the interlaced pairs floating upward.