‘Voyage of Lost Keys’ in honor of Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day (April 24th)

by | Apr 24, 2021 | exhibition

Photo by Ironside Photography / Stephen Ironside.

April 24th marks the commemoration of Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day, a day to honor the memories of 1 million people killed in the early 1920s by the Ottoman government in Turkey. No sitting U.S. president has marked the occasion for fear of alienating the Turkish government, and sharing the stories of those whose lives were taken—or even calling this act of attempted ethnic cleansing a genocide at all—remains controversial for some.

Artist Aimée Papazian pays tribute to her lost and displaced ancestors with “Voyage of Lost Keys,” a permanent installation at Fayetteville Public Library, in Fayetteville, AR. A murmuration of 2,000 porcelain keys, among which is a replica of a key that was found in the ashes of her grandfather’s pillaged home in Turkey, the piece unlocks the history of Papazian’s family and of her people. It also speaks to refugees everywhere, including in our own time. “‘Voyage of Lost Keys’ is a way to imagine a mass migration—a way to think about people who have lost their homes and their place in the world as still being somehow connected to each other,” Papazian says.

Hrag Vartanian, editor of Hyperallergic, calls the work “moving”; The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette calls it “magical.”

www.aimeepapazian.com

movie day: Wei Zhang

by | Apr 21, 2021 | movie day

Zhang’s work weaves in and around the intersections of design and craft fostering a practice within both Industrial Design and Ceramics. Fusing technology into traditional clay techniques, his pieces combine elements of furniture, sculpture, installation and experimentation. His forms are inspired from his travels, captured in his photography, from the mountains of Longmen Grottoes in Luoyang, China to the interior volcanos of Iceland. In Fall 2021, Zhang will enter the Global Innovation Design (MA) at Royal College of Art in London in hopes to further his aesthetic fusions and broaden expectations of what clay can do.

This series highlights the intersections of art, design, theory, social justice and research in interviewed conversations within the RISD community, its faculty and students.

Written | Directed | Edited by Holly Gaboriault [MA Global Arts + Cultures ’21]

Original Music by Antonio Forte