Connecting the dots
Acrylic on wood, various sizes
2020
If we bring together all the cities related to us, our parents and our grandparents, we will have an imaginary map tasked with creating our identities through specific cultures and lived and transmitted experiences.
We leave our cities for different reasons. Some are forced, others are genocide survivors or repressed for political, economic or social reasons. Some others go to study or to discover the world.
“Connecting the dots” refers to the lives of individuals whose movements as well as those of their immediate families affect their identities. The research focuses on the cities where the person lived, and the places of birth of their respective parents and grandparents.
Borders, visually speaking, are lines, curved or straight, smooth, jagged, harmonious or not. A border is a dividing line between different authorities, at the same time creating a sense of belonging for the inhabitants of the area within these limits. A place of birth or residence possesses and transmits a particular culture and influences the person. Do the cities in which our parents and grandparents live also influence our identity? What did they bring with them from their cities? What is transferred to us? Do the reasons they left their city influence our identities?
Five transgenerational maps for five individuals:
Silvina Der Meguerditchian (Berlin, Buenos Aires, San Juan, Marash, Sivas, Ainteb)
Tina Chakarian (Yerevan, Boston, Aleppo, Beirut Kilis)
Murat Mevlana (Geneva, Sierre, Bern, Besni)
Kalust Zorik (Cortaillod, Neuchâtel, Fribourg, Istanbul, Bursa, Bitlis)
Alina Mnatsakanian (Neuchâtel, Los Angeles, Paris, Tehran, Tavriz, Batoumi, Akhaltsikhe, Salmast)