no ant on the ground - no bird in the sky is cast in algae urethane, a renewable bio based material

The current catastrophes in Gaza, Sudan, Artsakh, DRC and beyond compel me to begin this piece which is a work in progress. As a 2nd generation survivor of the 1915 Armenian Genocide, I carry the memory of my grandmother and great grandmother.

“no ant on the ground - no bird in the sky” holds drawings from journalistic portraits of mothers and children in peril; families facing the threat of extinction through ethnic cleansing, deportation and genocide. Cradled in the sculptural forms of “Lung Lichen” these images are printed on gauze - a material invented in Gaza for the binding and healing of wounds.

Lichens are the result of a symbiotic partnership between fungi, algae and sometimes cyanobacteria. They intertwine themselves, providing each other with the life sustaining components to survive and thrive in impossibly harsh and inhospitable places, where neither could exist alone. Their behavoir exemplifies multi-species interdependence, collaboration, reciprocity and decentralization. Lichens are an ecosystem that defies the boundaries of the individual in recognition of universal connectivity. Lichens teach elegant lessons about forging mutualistic relationships and invite us to remember the radical power of partnership.

These first images are of mothers and children in:

GAZA, 2024

ARTSAKH, 2023

ARMENIA, 1915

WARSAW GHETTO, 1941

SUDAN, 2024

BEDOUIN, WEST BANK, 2024

KURDS, DERSIM, 1937

DRC, 2024

ROHINGA, 2017

I am currently working on images from:

AUSCHWITZ, 1942

PONTIC GREEK, 1923

GUATEMALA, 1980

RWANDA, 1994

HERERO AND NAMA, 1904

YAZIDI, 2014

TRAIL OF TEARS; Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, Seminole, 1830-1850