Photography and poetry converge in “Remain in Light,” a portrait of Armenian identity in motion
This collection, edited by Gassia Armenian and published by the Fowler Museum at UCLA, endeavors to visualize the contemporary Armenian experience in the homeland and in Los Angeles, home to the largest Armenian population in the diaspora.
The first wave of immigrants came to California in the late 1800s; the second was spurred by the Armenian genocide of 1915. Further Armenian migrants, from Soviet Armenia, the Middle East, Iran and other countries, continue to find solace, pride and connection in the traditions, customs, religion, language and memories they brought with them.
Sossi Madzounian, Ara Mgrdichian and Ara Oshagan, three diaspora-born Armenian artists living in Los Angeles, share their perspectives on the life of their people in the old world and the new, illuminating the evolving social fabric of Armenian life — survival in the homeland, the immigrant experience in diaspora and the rebirth of Armenian Americans on new soil. This book pairs their photographs with poems by LA-based poets Tina Demirdjian, Arminé Iknadossian, Arthur Kayzakian, Shahé Mankerian and Raffi Joe Wartanian. The volume is a tribute to all these artists, and to Armenians across the globe.
Gassia Armenian is a curator and research associate at the Fowler Museum at UCLA, where she conducts collections and database research to facilitate curatorial and scholarly efforts and manages various aspects of planning and organizing exhibitions. She curated Fowler exhibitions: Janyak: Armenian Art of Knots and Loops and Remain In Light: Visions of Homeland and Diaspora. In 2023, both received recognition from the Armenian Academy of Sciences, Diaspora Division and the Sardarapat Museum of Ethnography in the Republic of Armenia. The exhibition Joli! Fancy Masquerade from Sierra Leone (2016–2017), curated by Armenian, was the first to feature an interactive CT scan on an iPad in the gallery. Currently, she is the in-house curator of Mountain Spirits, which highlights the history, customs and beliefs of the Ifugao people of the North Luzon Peninsula of the Philippines. Additionally, she is developing an exhibition linking global artists to local communities. Armenian liaises with domestic and international artists and private lenders and has helped to mount many Fowler exhibitions, including: Striking Iron: The Art of African Blacksmiths (2018); From X to Why: A Museum Takes Shape (2013–14), World Arts/Local Lives: The Collections of the Fowler Museum at UCLA (2014); Secrets d’Ivoire: L’art des Lega d’Afrique central (Fowler traveling exhibition at the Musée du quai Branly, Paris, 2013); Central Nigeria Unmasked: Arts of the Benue River Valley (2012); Architecture of the Veil: An Installation by Samta Benyahia (2007); A Saint in the City: Sufi Arts of Urban Senegal (2003). Prior to the Fowler, Armenian was a consultant-project coordinator at the U.S. Agency for International Development for Junior Achievement of Armenia, where she developed and implemented civics-education training programs and teaching methodologies for principals and teachers from the Republic of Armenia in the United States and Armenia. In addition, Armenian has taught world cultures and history at the Ferrahian Armenian School, Encino, Calif.
To purchase the book and other new and exciting Armenian titles, visit the International Armenian Literary Alliance’s online storefront at Bookshop.
