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The Armenian Mirror-Spectator
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1. SPLC Apologizes To Lewy, Sparks Questions on Mass. Case
2. Oshagan and Oshagan's Take on Karabagh: A World Of Images and Words
3. Levon Jamgochian: Legendary Painter, Printmaker and Sculptor
4. Commentary: South Sudan Vote Gives Hope to Karabagh
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1. SPLC Apologizes To Lewy, Sparks Questions on Mass. Case
*By Thomas C. Nash**
*Special to the *Mirror-Spectator*
BOSTON - A human rights group's recent settlement of a libel lawsuit brought
by a professor known for his `contra-genocide' viewpoint on the Armenian
Genocide has left some wondering about its position on the issue and whether
there could be implications for another high-profile Genocide case.
The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) issued a retraction and apology to
retired University of Massachusetts history professor, Guenter Lewy, 87, in
September after a two-year legal battle that began with a 2008 report that
said Lewy was part of a network of people being paid by the Turkish
government to oppose characterizing the 1915 massacres of Armenians by
Ottoman Turks as genocide.
`We were wrong,' SPLC President Richard Cohen said, noting he drafted the
language of the apology and retraction himself. Despite the difficulty in
proving malice in libel cases, he noted that the SPLC ultimately decided
against going to trial.
`We could have won the case,' Cohen said. `But we decided settling was the
morally right thing to do.'
The retraction, however, goes further than noting the organization was
incorrect in its assertion that Lewy took money from the Turkish government,
noting: `To our knowledge, Professor Lewy has never sought to deny or
minimize the deaths of Armenians in Ottoman Turkey; nor has he sought to
minimize the Ottoman regime's grievous wartime miscalculations or
indifference to human misery in a conflict earmarked by widespread civilian
suffering on all sides.
`What he has argued in his book, *The Armenian Massacres in Ottoman Turkey:
A Disputed Genocide,* and elsewhere, is that the present historical record
does not substantiate a premeditated plan by the Ottoman regime to destroy
because of ethnicity, religion or nationality, as opposed to deport for
political-military reasons, the Armenian population. In this view, he is
joined by such distinguished scholars as Prof. Bernard Lewis of Princeton
University. As additional troves of archival information come to light,
Professor Lewy advocates greater study of this contentious subject.'
In a statement following the center's apology, Lewy noted his goal in suing
was to defend both his reputation and `unhindered discussion of
controversial topics.'
`It must be possible to defend views that contradict conventional wisdom
without being called the agent of a foreign government,' he stated.
Cohen stressed, however, that the retraction and apology is not a shift in
the center's attitude toward the Armenian Genocide, noting that in December
the International Association of Genocide Scholars (IAGS) had sent a letter
criticizing the phrasing of the retraction.
`An apology for that statement in an otherwise excellent piece of journalism
may be justified,' the IAGS' letter stated. `Yet, the retraction and
apology
goes on to make statements that appear to be part of a legal deal and are
congruent with the Turkish government's tactics of denying the Armenian
genocide in order to falsify history for the purpose of its nationalist
agenda.'
In a response provided to the *Mirror-Spectator*, Cohen defends the wording
of the retraction.
`Like you, we believe that the weight of scholarly opinion supports the
conclusion that the murder of Armenians during World War I should be
characterized as a genocide,' he wrote. `We said as much in the article we
published in 2008, and nothing in our retraction changes our position. We
also thought it was appropriate, in light of our error, to make it clear
that Professor Lewy acknowledged that the Ottoman Turkish regime bore a
degree of responsibility for the murders,' he added. `We hope that others do
not confuse our retraction and apology to Professor Lewy as an endorsement
of his view on the genocide question.'
George Mason University's Prof. Gregory Stanton, immediate past-president of
IAGS and president of Genocide Watch, said Cohen's clarification put him
at
ease.
`[Cohen] reaffirmed the reality of the Armenian Genocide,' Stanton said. `It
was very clear to me after reading his response that the Southern Poverty
Law Center settled with Lewy so they didn't get bogged down in endless
litigation, when in fact they had made a mistake.'
`I think that was a very reasonable position to take,' he added. `They have
much more important legal battles to fight, and I think that was the
decision they made.'
*Implications for Griswold v. Driscoll?*
The settlement has led some observers in the Armenian-American community to
wonder about another high-profile Genocide case, which could be moving from
Massachusetts to the Supreme Court.
The five-year-old case, brought by two Lincoln-Sudbury High School teachers
and a student, with the assistance of Turkish organizations, against the
Massachusetts Department of Education's exclusion of `contra- genocide'
materials in an Armenian Genocide curriculum guide, was filed with the US
Supreme Court by lead attorney Harvey Silverglate in November.
The plaintiffs in both the Lewy defamation suit and the Griswold case have
ties to the Assembly of Turkish American Associations (ATAA). The ATAA
helped fund the Griswold case, while Lewy attorney David Saltzman is the law
partner of Gunay Evinch, ATAA president. Silverglate said that while the
cases are different, they ultimately share a common thread of those who
`departed from the majority view on the Armenian Genocide' facing unjust
attacks. `The censorship of the Massachusetts curricular guide and the
know-nothing, reckless assault on Lewy's integrity grow out of the same
intolerance on any difference on the Genocide issue,' Silverglate said.
Meanwhile, Silverglate is waiting for word from the Supreme Court on whether
the case will be heard.
`If the US Supreme Court takes the case, I think we'll win,' he said. `But
the chances are between 1 and 5 percent. The odds are against us, but the
issue is of extreme importance.'
Stanton, who helped write an amicus curiae brief filed by IAGS on behalf of
the defense, said the two cases shared little in common other than the
genocide.
`The [Griswold] decision was upheld in an opinion written by [former Supreme
Court Justice] Souter himself,' Stanton said. `It completely demolished the
position of the Turkish lobby that the Mass. Board of Education had a duty
to keep denial websites on its list of recommended websites for teachers.
`Souter, I think rightly, said the mass board of education created their
list of sites they recommend and they had every right to edit it and to
alter it. This was not a first amendment issue.'
*************************************************************
2. Oshagan and Oshagan's Take on Karabagh: A World Of Images and Words
*By Aram Arkun*
*Mirror-Spectator* Staff
NEW YORK - Ara Oshagan's photographs all have something askew. Things are
viewed from unusual angles, bodies are cut off into torsos, hands or legs
appear without bodies and geometric patterns take form. Starkly black and
white, his images are intriguing glimpses into people's lives, illuminated
with emotions. Intimate moments, in private or public space, are revealed.
Father Land, Oshagan's first volume of photographs, more than 10 years in
the making, appeared at the end of 2010. It is a collaboration with his
father Vahé Oshagan, who passed away in 2000. Its Brooklyn-based publisher,
powerHouse Books, hosted an exhibition of some 20 photographs from November
to December 2010, Oshagan signed books at the International Center of
Photography in Manhattan a few weeks later and a larger exhibition, ending
this January, was held at the Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery.
Father Land contains a preface by Vahé Oshagan, the noted poet and writer,
in its original Western Armenian, together with an English translation by G.
M. Goshgarian, and Ara Oshagan's images, along with a brief afterword and
acknowledgments by Ara Oshagan. In words and photos respectively, the father
and son explored in parallel the victorious newly-independent but
unrecognized and isolated Republic of Mountainous Karabagh from 1998 to
2006. Vahé's essay was the last thing he wrote before dying. He wanted
to
understand as a Diasporan Armenian what Karabagh meant to him, the Armenian
identity and to humanity. `Father Land' not only is a literal translation of
the Armenian word for homeland, but also refers to the paternal relationship
between Vahé and Ara, and Ara's own fatherhood (he became a father four
times over during the course of the preparation of this project).
Vahé Oshagan gives the historical background to Karabagh that can, to a
degree, help contextualize his son's photos. As a paradigmatically transient
diasporan, Vahé romanticized what he terms `this ancient, ancestral, magical
soil, with the riddle and the secret power of Armenianness.' The Armenian
fighters of Karabagh are greater than those elsewhere because of their ties
to the land: `What counts, in their case, as the bare minimum of fortitude
and audacity is already more than can be reasonably demanded of any other
soldier.' `There is no dying in the fatherland,' because you are not
alone -
your land, family and people perpetuate you. As Vahé describes his travel
through Karabagh, both through its history and its present reality, the
beauty of the natural landscapes and the churches built by the Armenians
impress Vahé as sublime. He sought the secret to the Armenians' survival in
Karabagh in the warlike cruelty of the people, as well as the culture and
the tie to the land.
Ara Oshagan explained recently his father was `trying to understand what
man
is - what is the linkage between history, humanity and soul, these larger
issues, through Karabagh.'
Ara Oshagan and his father deliberately did not illustrate one another. He
declared, `We did not want one or the other medium to be subservient. We
wanted to create a piece of art about this place, allowing the reader to
find - or not find - connections.'
Ara's task was different from that of his father: `In a direct sense,
photography is about the present, so it doesn't deal with history in the
same way. My approach was to look at the relationship I have to this place.
Even though I'm Armenian and this is part of my distant homeland, I was 38
years old, and I had never been there before.'
The way he explored that relationship was `through having a particular
viewpoint in my photographs, a very specific way of seeing, and that is what
defines my relationship in visual terms to the place. Looking at the world,
I'm very keenly aware of my own place in it, and in terms of my own eyes, I
am trying to develop a type of visual vocabulary about how I see the world.
Karabagh was seen through that visual vocabulary.'
All the photographs were taken in black and white, on film. Ara Oshagan
said, `My viewpoint - my visual vocabulary - seems to translate itself better
in black and white than in color. I've tried both, but black and white seems
to be the way I see the world. It is obviously a more stark way of seeing.
Color will bring in more emotional content. Black and white tends to be more
about structure and shape, and form, at least for it to be successful, while
that is not always true for color.'
The photographs are all uncropped. In Ara's approach, he said, `A lot of
things repeat in my photos, not all of them obviously. There is a sort of
layering. There are oftentimes multiple things going on. Things are outside
the frame - in the foreground or background, or out of focus. These sorts of
things are the alphabet. It is like a novel, with a clear viewpoint at
times, and other times passages that are not that clear.'
Ara Oshagan continued to travel to Karabagh after his father passed away:
`I
wandered and photographed and connected to whatever I could. I really,
really wanted to photograph the army, so I spent three days at an army base.
That was very specific - trying to get a specific image in a specific
context. In general, I just went where I felt there was a deep connection.
I
spent a lot of time only in a few places, though I traveled all over this
country.'
What is amazing is that Ara Oshagan was able to photograph very intimate
moments in people's lives, sometimes in the very bosom of a family. He
explained how this was accomplished: `I spend a lot of time with people so
they become really comfortable with your presence and what you are doing. My
presence is always there. They have to ignore my camera, so that they don't
even notice that action and process. They may even continue speaking to me
as if there is no camera between us.'
He sometimes gets what he seeks in one shot. Other times, `I may take many
frames. I will not know whether I have made a good image or not. Sometimes
I
think I made a great image, but it is not really good, or the opposite can
happen. When I'm actually making the image it is instinctual.' Afterwards,
the advice of a good editor with some distance from the work can be helpful.
Ara Oshagan never formally studied photography. He works as a geophysicist
during the day, but has a flexible work schedule and tries to work on his
photography as much as possible. He grew up as a child in the Armenian
environment of Beirut and when he came to the US with his family, he moved
around a lot, living in places like Madison, Wis. or Memphis, Tenn., without
much contact with Armenian communities. He feels this made him understand
marginalization and gave him an identity with several dimensions. He
declared, `A diasporan identity is about not just being Armenian, but
something else too: between languages, between Armenian and English, between
different ways of thinking. The diaspora exists in a middle space.'
With a father and a grandfather (Hagop Oshagan) who were famous writers, Ara
Oshagan initially attempted to express himself through writing, though he
studied physics in order to have a practical profession to support his
artistry. Then, something changed, he said: `At some point I stumbled onto
photography and I realized that it is a better medium for me. I was able to
connect with the medium very quickly and easily and make pictures that were
significant for me, much more easily than writing. It took me a while: there
was a struggle for a while between writing and photography, but I realized
that it was not the medium but what you are trying to do through the medium.
I went into photography as my art - my life.'
Ara Oshagan felt that coming from a lineage of writers is a double-edged
sword: `On the one hand, you have this momentum - two generations of authors
and artists giving you a push forward into certain ways of thinking and
creating and appreciating art. You have all these things you know firsthand
and intuitively that other people perhaps must struggle to obtain. On the
other hand, there is the issue of coming out of the shadow. People like my
father and grandfather cast long and heavy shadows.'
Vahé Oshagan in a way became a poet to distinguish himself from his famous
novelist father. When Ara Oshagan still thought of becoming a novelist, he
wanted to write in English instead of Armenian, but then went into the
totally different medium of photography. He added, `I think that one of the
results of having artists in previous generations is that your maturation
seems to take longer. My father did not publish his first book until he was
in his 30s; I'm 46 now with my first book out.'
Some things appear to have been passed down through three generations, Ara
Oshagan found: `There is a spirit of breaking rules that came from my
grandfather. My father took that spirit, and introduced curse words and
conversational language into Armenian poetry for the first time. In a way,
my style of photography also tends to break a lot of rules, in terms of
images being very easily understood=85.I did not do that very consciously,
but
when I first started taking pictures, I was doing it in that way. I realized
I was doing it and developed it further later.' A second shared element is
being open-minded and accepting of everything that comes your way.
Most of Ara Oshagan's work concerns Armenians. He attempts to avoid an overt
nationalistic agenda, as he is exploring his own community in order to talk
about people in general. Oshagan said, `I think the bad part of nationalism
or the thing that subverts art is to have an agenda, when you are trying to
pursue a nationalistic cause through your art. But you can love your nation
and do projects about Armenians, and choose to do it through an active
witnessing through photography, exploring without a particular agenda, as in
Karabagh, I don't see a contradiction.' He added that `visual language is
very different from written - it can distance you from obvious, clear
nationalistic elements.'
As a Diasporan-Armenian now living in Glendale, Ara Oshagan has done
photography projects about survivors of the Armenian Genocide and Los
Angeles-area Armenians, and still, he says, `there is a constant idea or
need for return within me. One of my grand projects is to document, through
a self- reflective project, the Armenian Diaspora, not only in LA, but in
Beirut, Aleppo, Jerusalem and Kessab, the faces of the diaspora - the face
of our transnational nation which will reveal itself somehow. I would be
able to explore that aspect of my identity. It is about looking at myself,
my own community, the diaspora. What does it mean to be a transnational
people? What I want to address is humanity, and issues about community and
memory, through my work and through the Armenian community.'
Ara Oshagan has four more photography books ready to be published and
samples of his work can be viewed in the permanent collections of the
Southeast Museum of Photography in Daytona Beach, Fla., the Downey Museum of
Art in Downey, Calif. and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Yerevan. To find
out more, visit http://araoshagan.com/.
*************************************************************
3. Levon Jamgochian: Legendary Painter, Printmaker and Sculptor
*By Marni Pilafian*
Special to the *Mirror-Spectator*
WHEATON,Md. - The steep climb of 20 handcrafted steps to reach the hilltop
home of artist Levon Jamgochian was only the beginning of this adventure.
Wheaton is a Washington suburb of scant hills; but Jamgochian bought a house
on a steep hillside. (`It reminded me of the churches built into the sides
of steep mountains in the rugged countryside of Armenia.')
He used to tie a rope to his lawnmower to cut the grass by sending it down
the hill and pulling it up again and again; in order to avoid this
exhausting method, he built a series of terraces to overcome the steepness
and planted pines and evergreens. Lush arbors resulted. He framed the front
door with slender evergreens, growing and bending over time, bowing over the
entrance. It graces the inner- sanctum of the artist.
The house has walls lined with a rich history of Jamgochian's works. Prints
hang in order of their gallery showings, evolving from one medium with a
one-dimensional view to layer upon layer of prints evolving into something
magical. In one series, a simple view of nature evolves into a series of
prints bringing forth images of a New York skyline.
The living room holds wood sculptures wrought and rendered from nature.
Gnarled roots of wood, tree knots and elbows placed at angles to capture the
imagination, installed on a finished block of wood. Some appear to capture
the human form in all its grace. Others bend the imagination in attempting
to place the object into a known perspective . Looking upward, colorful
paintings suspended from the ceiling surprise the visitor. These are the
highly skilled works of a truly gifted, passionate and hardworking artist.
Jamgochian, born in Beirut, is an artist with a global following. He has
held more than 50 solo exhibitions worldwide, from Miami to Milan to Moscow,
from Istanbul to Toronto, from the Ukraine to Echmiadzin.
At the age of 12, he studied art at the Melkonian Educational Institute in
Cyprus with Sebouh Apkarian. He graduated with a first prize from Brera
Academy of Fine Arts, Milan, Italy, and from the Academy of Fine Arts in
Venice.
Trained also as an interior designer, he had earlier designed the homes of
several senators in the metro Washington area.
Yet his passion is in creating art.
He has a permanent display of his works in Gumri, at the National
Architecture and Urban Life Museum. After the Armenian earthquake of 1988,
Jamgochian was invited by the Armenian government to show his work, and was
hoping to establish an international graphic art center, museum and gallery
in Gumri, before the promises were broken.
He started an arts education program there and also taught in Yerevan. He
discovered passion in his students' works over the course of the two years
he lived in Armenia, and through their inspiration, he discovered more of
his own.
Jamgochian donated more than $300,000 worth of his paintings to assist in
the post-earthquake relief efforts, raising funds by exhibiting all over the
Caucasus region, in Russia and the Ukraine.
His work is the culmination of his life and learning within four cultures
-
Lebanon, where he grew up; Armenia, his ancestral home; Italy, where he
studied art and interior design and America, where all his experiences and
perceptions combined and transformed into unique multicultural,
multi-faceted paintings, sculptures and prints.
As Montgomery College art professor John Carr described, `More than a few
images seem to have sprouted from seeds carried by the wind from distant
mysterious places. These works offer welcomed, challenging visual adventures
that require thorough examination and careful thought to be appreciated.'
Jamgochian has received numerous grants, invitations from governments to
exhibit and teach art. He is a recognized artist of global proportions by
the international media. Jamgochian's permanent collections are included
in
the museums of cities such as Yerevan at the Armenian Genocide Museum, Gumri
at the National Architecture and Urban Life Museum, the National Gallery in
Yerevan, Vanadzor, Yeghegnadzor and Echmiadzin; in the Smithsonian Institute
in Washington, DC; museums in Paris, Venice and Kiev, Ukraine; the Mardigian
Museum in Jerusalem, the Museum of the Catholicosate at Antelias, Lebanon
and the National Galleries of Stepanakert and Shushi, Artsakh.
His current collection of works, titled `The Eternity Suite,' is a lifetime
of pieces, some created as early as 1961. At the age of 15, he found a
branch on a mountain in Lebanon, near Faraya, and turned it into a
sculpture. That branch began his evolution of sculptures rendered from
natural wood growths. Many of them have found their way into his garden out
back, beginning as roots of trees.
`There is an interrelationship of images; when I create those sculptures, I
take the images and forms from nature. My sculptures sculpt themselves. I
follow the natural forms - what nature gives me. Nature takes the lead,' he
explained.
One large c-shaped root is suspended over a wooden block base by a wire. It
is a model of a larger sculpture that he can create and install as an
outdoor exhibit. It moves, much like, he explains, life. `We take from life.
And we give it back. Let the viewer interpret it. There is a lot of hidden
symbolism. I try to go beyond the visible. I like to let people draw their
own conclusions,' he added.
His art comes from his perception of nature and how he transforms it.
Symbolism evolves from his semi-surrealistic approach to sculpture and
printmaking.
`I like to go beyond the visible and blend what is inside of me with what I
see. I invite the viewer to become a participant in my art,' Jamgochian
said. `I want them to discover in my works things that I may not have
discovered myself.'
His print series, `Before Dusk' and `Eternal Fields and Hills,' led him to
focus on five images. Using different techniques, his images began to
transform into surreal and abstract images.
`Since 9/11, a lot of changes have been going on in my images,' said
Jamgochian. `I came slowly, print by print, embossing on top of the main
images, to recognize a newimage started to emerge - water, fire, earth,
nature. Water appears in the background. The prints are organic.'
Carr adds, `Subtle metaphors, complex layers of color and texture, as well
as intellectual depth all contribute to bring these works to life.'
In his art studies at Brera, Jamgochian did his thesis on ancient Armenian
miniatures. The refined techniques and soft, subdued and some bright colors
of this historical art is reflected in his works. His known and imagined
patterns of nature in his focal image evolve, print by print, into a surreal
pattern.
`Something else emerges,' he says. `It leads one to focus on different
images. The images evolve. The viewer sees a different concept.'
The prints are made as monotype, the only one of its kind, and lithographs,
with few prints produced. The traditional approach to printmaking is to pull
a limited number of prints from the same plate (etchings, lithographs),
number them and then destroy or `strike' the printing plate. Jamgochian has
developed unique methods of transforming the original plate, utilizing the
prepared aluminum technique, stencils and embossing. His `reverse roller
image technique' yields monochromatic and shaded images, producing a hidden
surrealism.
`Very lyrical,' he points out. `The most important issue I want to focus on
is that we are ruining nature. I try to maintain nature's purity - the
shapes in the prints become rocks which are transformed into human figures.
This emerged as my `Survivor Series.' Some of the images of trees were
transformed into survivors. Forms and images recur, even without thinking
about it, because deep down relationships between survivors demonstrate
human sufferance as in 9/11. And yetmy forms all come from nature, not from
human forms.' His creative perceptions are expressed through his art as
visual metaphor.
Jamgochian's work fits into the framework of modern printmaking in the
world's art timeline.
`From the 1960s to the 1980s to the present, I developed novel ideas and
techniques, but I don't want to overdo it. I am the sole processor of my
prints. I use no assistants. The evolution of results I have produced speak
for themselves.'
His collection of prints and wood sculptures will be featured in his solo
exhibition, `Eternity Suite.' He calls his exhibits by a traditional musical
series of works, or `suite' to highlight the broader scope of his works as
viewed by his conceptual lens as an artist. They deliver a common message
through variations on a common theme of design. His `Unity Is Strength'
suite, for example, links an image of Mount Ararat to the New York City
skyline and the Statue of Liberty, his first vision of America when he
arrived in 1968. Visiting Armenia in 1979 had a profound effect on his art.
As one of the second generation of Armenians removed from the 1915 Armenian
Genocide, he was struck by the contrast between his new life in the United
States and his historical ancestry. His `Unity Is Strength' suite developed
from this experience, fusing Jamgochian's old world with his new world. In
one lithograph, `Welcome to the New World,' a large diamond held up by
a
human figure, hovers over a city skyline. `The diamond symbolizes purity,
strength and power, which, inverted, is also the shape of Mount Ararat. When
I was there, I was very moved by it,' he explained.
In Jamgochian's series of `Eternity' prints, the initial five basic images
are metamorphosed, leading into pure, mystical, organic and religiously-
indestructible values, which are also depicted in the wooden sculptures, as
the morphed nature of rotting Earth.
Concerned about his future ability to produce works of art since he has
become disabled after two accidents, he has been focused on preparing for
his exhibit for the past year, in spite of daily back pain.
Jamgochian's opening reception will launch the `Eternity Suite' exhibit, on
February 6, 1:30 to 3:30 p.m., and will run through March 1 at Rockville
Civic Center Park, at the Glenview Mansion Art Gallery, 603 Edmonston Drive,
Rockville, Md. The gallery opening will also feature an afternoon solo
concert by his gifted and award-winning violinist son, Arec Jamgochian, 15,
accompanied by pianist Irina Kats, spanning different eras of classical
composers.
`This collection is my last hurrah,' he sighed.
Let us hope not.
*************************************************************************
4. Commentary: South Sudan Vote Gives Hope to Karabagh
*By Edmond Y. Azadian*
There is euphoria in Armenia's news media. The political pundits there are
having a field day speculating and commenting on the impact the South Sudan
referendum may have on the Karabagh conflict, which has been confined to a
legal straitjacket, juxtaposing the principles of territorial integrity with
the self-determination of minorities. Baku, understandably, is mute on the
issue.
Indeed, after 50 years of civil strife and two decades of active war, with
2
million casualties, South Sudan finally was allowed to hold a referendum
last week, at the conclusion of a deal brokered in 2005 by the US
government.
Sudan is one of the oil-rich countries in the heart of Africa. It seems that
war and political tensions gravitate towards the oil wells of the world.
Sudan has a population of 40 million. South Sudan has only 4 million
population but its territory produces 80 percent of Sudan's entire oil
output, some 490,000 barrels a day, the third biggest in sub- Saharan
Africa. That, of course, could become a bone of contention between the South
and the North, but the 2005 peace agreement has provisions of oil revenue
sharing between both entities.
The optimism in Armenia is derived from the fact that the principle of
minority self-determination is gaining prominence over territorial
integrity. Unfortunately, that optimism is not fully justified because each
and every similar case has political determinants in the background, which
outweigh justice, historical right and international law.
President Jimmy Carter was in Sudan monitoring the voting and President
Barack Obama had a profusion of praise for parties in the Sudanese conflict.
He called the peaceful and orderly referendum an `inspiration' and he added
a cautious warning: `We urge all parties to continue to urge calm and
restraint as the parties work to complete implementation of the 2005
comprehensive peace agreement. The past week has given the world a renewed
faith in the prospect of a peaceful, prosperous future for all the Sudanese
people - a future that the American people long to see in Sudan.'
It looks like the people in Karabagh have to wait a very long time for the
American people and its president to `long for a peaceful future' in that
tortured part of the world.
The results of the vote indicate that a new nation will be born in Africa,
seceding from Sudan. The results will be announced on February 14 and
independence will be formally declared on July 9. With this referendum in
Sudan, another precedent is established where the tenets of territorial
integrity are shattered. But all those principles are only fig leaves to
camouflage the political interests in the background.
Sudan perennially has been a country of coup d'etats. The government of
Jaafar Nimeiri was toppled by Ahmed al-Mirghani, which in turn was toppled
by the current dictator, Omar al-Bashir, who introduced the Sharia law in
the country and engaged in an active persecution of the Southern Christians
and animists. Such actions, of course provided a good opportunity for the
West to destabilize Sudan, whose international politics was veering towards
being a rogue state. During the current administration, Sudan also became a
conduit for China's economic, political and military penetration into the
African heartland, alarming the West.
Before Sudan, Col. Muammar Gaddafi's Libya was bombed during the Reagan
administration and the US-engineered international pressure brought to bear
in Libyan politics, which renounced terrorism, paid $2.5 billion for bombing
Pan Am flight over Lockerbie and above all, toned down its anti-Israeli
rhetoric.
Similarly, a Sudanese pharmaceutical factory was also bombed during the
Clinton administration, under the accusation that it was producing chemical
weapons.
Of course, President al-Bashir gave just excuses for the West to declare his
country a pariah state, namely because of his genocidal politics in Darfur.
The international court issued an arrest warrant, with the backing of
Washington, to contain Sudan's homicidal actions. And in line with the US's
Libyan policy, the Khartoum government cut a deal with the US to hold a
referendum in the South and honor the results.
Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, many territorial adjustments have
been made in different parts of the world and many minorities have exerted
their right for self-determination and achieved independence such as East
Timor, Eritrea, Somaliland, Slovenia, Kosovo, Montenegro and Macedonia,
South Ossetia and Abkhazia. All these precedents leave no excuse forbidding
Karabagh people to determine their own fate.
In all these cases, the only distinction was that some minorities broke away
with the consent or tacit agreement of the majority rulers, and others were
forced by major forces.
East Timor has a long history of conflict with the Jakarta regime, after
Indonesia gained its independence from Holland. Finally Jakarta agreed to a
referendum, which freed East Timor.
Eritrea benefited from Ethiopia's internal turmoil to declare its
independence.
But Kosovo's independence was the outcome of an international power game
between Russia and the West. The US, which had antagonized the Muslim world
through its unconditional support of Israel, found an opportunity to provide
a free gift to the Muslim world by supporting the independence of a Muslim
minority in the heart of Europe, by dismantling the former Yugoslavia by
force. Of course, Kosovo's independence had further political and symbolic
ramifications as well; as the European Union was mustering its forces and
pooling its Christian values eventually to challenge US's unipolar world
domination, Kosovo would become a monkey wrench in those European
aspirations, like Turkey could become one day with Washington's blessing.
The symbolic significance of Kosovo's independence was that Serbia's
backbone was broken and a line in the sand was drawn for Russian influence
in Europe and particularly in the Balkans. As the West was pushing for
Kosovo's independence and recognition by other nations, Moscow vehemently
opposed the move and warned that there could be a settling of scores in the
international arena. And that opportunity was afforded to Russia by
Georgia's frivolous President Mikheil Saakashvili when he began saber-
battling in South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Russia took up the challenge,
destroyed the Georgian army and recognized those enclaves as independent
nations.
Some Latin American countries such as Nicaragua and Venezuela, to please
Russia and spite the West, recognized the independence of those two
entities.
What do all these case analyses bring to the issue of Karabagh?
Unfortunately, Karabagh falls in the category of Kosovo, Abkhazia and South
Ossetia, where the ruling majority was coerced to relinquish a chunk of its
territory to a struggling minority, the principle of territorial integrity
notwithstanding.
Where is the major power to force Baku rulers to recognize the results of
1994 war and the referendum of 1991. On the contrary, it is in the interest
of the major powers - including our `strategic ally' Russia - to keep the
Karabagh conflict frozen to cajole or to threaten Azerbaijan to wrest
economic and political concessions. Baku authorities maintain an active
trade partnership with Taiwan, while they refuse to recognize Karabagh's
right to self-determination. Similarly Turkey keeps under its occupation
Northern Cyprus, beating its breast forminority rights, while actively
refusing to grant those same rights to the people of Karabagh.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and President Obama were so much in favor
of Southern Sudan's independence they can hardly think of granting the same
treatment to Karabagh. Therefore, all these principles and lofty rhetoric on
international law are just like shoes to fit the feet of politicians and
statesmen.
If Kosovo and South Sudan can enjoy independence, the same political
conditions and the same principles of self-determination entitle Karabagh
people to have their own independence.
But when you pose the question to the leaders of the major powers, they will
concoct and manufacture all kinds of laws and conditions that the Karabagh
situation is `different.'
The only guarantee for Karabagh's security and independence comes from
Armenia. And Armenia's shrinking population hangs a big question mark over
the settlement of Karabagh. When dust settles in South Sudan, our pundits in
Armenia will realize that their anticipation of a precedent for Karabagh was
overrated.
From: A. Papazian
755 Mount Auburn St.
Watertown, MA 02472
Tel: (617) 924-4420
Fax: (617) 924-2887
Web: http://www.mirrorspectator.com
E-mail: [email protected]
1. SPLC Apologizes To Lewy, Sparks Questions on Mass. Case
2. Oshagan and Oshagan's Take on Karabagh: A World Of Images and Words
3. Levon Jamgochian: Legendary Painter, Printmaker and Sculptor
4. Commentary: South Sudan Vote Gives Hope to Karabagh
***************************************************************
1. SPLC Apologizes To Lewy, Sparks Questions on Mass. Case
*By Thomas C. Nash**
*Special to the *Mirror-Spectator*
BOSTON - A human rights group's recent settlement of a libel lawsuit brought
by a professor known for his `contra-genocide' viewpoint on the Armenian
Genocide has left some wondering about its position on the issue and whether
there could be implications for another high-profile Genocide case.
The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) issued a retraction and apology to
retired University of Massachusetts history professor, Guenter Lewy, 87, in
September after a two-year legal battle that began with a 2008 report that
said Lewy was part of a network of people being paid by the Turkish
government to oppose characterizing the 1915 massacres of Armenians by
Ottoman Turks as genocide.
`We were wrong,' SPLC President Richard Cohen said, noting he drafted the
language of the apology and retraction himself. Despite the difficulty in
proving malice in libel cases, he noted that the SPLC ultimately decided
against going to trial.
`We could have won the case,' Cohen said. `But we decided settling was the
morally right thing to do.'
The retraction, however, goes further than noting the organization was
incorrect in its assertion that Lewy took money from the Turkish government,
noting: `To our knowledge, Professor Lewy has never sought to deny or
minimize the deaths of Armenians in Ottoman Turkey; nor has he sought to
minimize the Ottoman regime's grievous wartime miscalculations or
indifference to human misery in a conflict earmarked by widespread civilian
suffering on all sides.
`What he has argued in his book, *The Armenian Massacres in Ottoman Turkey:
A Disputed Genocide,* and elsewhere, is that the present historical record
does not substantiate a premeditated plan by the Ottoman regime to destroy
because of ethnicity, religion or nationality, as opposed to deport for
political-military reasons, the Armenian population. In this view, he is
joined by such distinguished scholars as Prof. Bernard Lewis of Princeton
University. As additional troves of archival information come to light,
Professor Lewy advocates greater study of this contentious subject.'
In a statement following the center's apology, Lewy noted his goal in suing
was to defend both his reputation and `unhindered discussion of
controversial topics.'
`It must be possible to defend views that contradict conventional wisdom
without being called the agent of a foreign government,' he stated.
Cohen stressed, however, that the retraction and apology is not a shift in
the center's attitude toward the Armenian Genocide, noting that in December
the International Association of Genocide Scholars (IAGS) had sent a letter
criticizing the phrasing of the retraction.
`An apology for that statement in an otherwise excellent piece of journalism
may be justified,' the IAGS' letter stated. `Yet, the retraction and
apology
goes on to make statements that appear to be part of a legal deal and are
congruent with the Turkish government's tactics of denying the Armenian
genocide in order to falsify history for the purpose of its nationalist
agenda.'
In a response provided to the *Mirror-Spectator*, Cohen defends the wording
of the retraction.
`Like you, we believe that the weight of scholarly opinion supports the
conclusion that the murder of Armenians during World War I should be
characterized as a genocide,' he wrote. `We said as much in the article we
published in 2008, and nothing in our retraction changes our position. We
also thought it was appropriate, in light of our error, to make it clear
that Professor Lewy acknowledged that the Ottoman Turkish regime bore a
degree of responsibility for the murders,' he added. `We hope that others do
not confuse our retraction and apology to Professor Lewy as an endorsement
of his view on the genocide question.'
George Mason University's Prof. Gregory Stanton, immediate past-president of
IAGS and president of Genocide Watch, said Cohen's clarification put him
at
ease.
`[Cohen] reaffirmed the reality of the Armenian Genocide,' Stanton said. `It
was very clear to me after reading his response that the Southern Poverty
Law Center settled with Lewy so they didn't get bogged down in endless
litigation, when in fact they had made a mistake.'
`I think that was a very reasonable position to take,' he added. `They have
much more important legal battles to fight, and I think that was the
decision they made.'
*Implications for Griswold v. Driscoll?*
The settlement has led some observers in the Armenian-American community to
wonder about another high-profile Genocide case, which could be moving from
Massachusetts to the Supreme Court.
The five-year-old case, brought by two Lincoln-Sudbury High School teachers
and a student, with the assistance of Turkish organizations, against the
Massachusetts Department of Education's exclusion of `contra- genocide'
materials in an Armenian Genocide curriculum guide, was filed with the US
Supreme Court by lead attorney Harvey Silverglate in November.
The plaintiffs in both the Lewy defamation suit and the Griswold case have
ties to the Assembly of Turkish American Associations (ATAA). The ATAA
helped fund the Griswold case, while Lewy attorney David Saltzman is the law
partner of Gunay Evinch, ATAA president. Silverglate said that while the
cases are different, they ultimately share a common thread of those who
`departed from the majority view on the Armenian Genocide' facing unjust
attacks. `The censorship of the Massachusetts curricular guide and the
know-nothing, reckless assault on Lewy's integrity grow out of the same
intolerance on any difference on the Genocide issue,' Silverglate said.
Meanwhile, Silverglate is waiting for word from the Supreme Court on whether
the case will be heard.
`If the US Supreme Court takes the case, I think we'll win,' he said. `But
the chances are between 1 and 5 percent. The odds are against us, but the
issue is of extreme importance.'
Stanton, who helped write an amicus curiae brief filed by IAGS on behalf of
the defense, said the two cases shared little in common other than the
genocide.
`The [Griswold] decision was upheld in an opinion written by [former Supreme
Court Justice] Souter himself,' Stanton said. `It completely demolished the
position of the Turkish lobby that the Mass. Board of Education had a duty
to keep denial websites on its list of recommended websites for teachers.
`Souter, I think rightly, said the mass board of education created their
list of sites they recommend and they had every right to edit it and to
alter it. This was not a first amendment issue.'
*************************************************************
2. Oshagan and Oshagan's Take on Karabagh: A World Of Images and Words
*By Aram Arkun*
*Mirror-Spectator* Staff
NEW YORK - Ara Oshagan's photographs all have something askew. Things are
viewed from unusual angles, bodies are cut off into torsos, hands or legs
appear without bodies and geometric patterns take form. Starkly black and
white, his images are intriguing glimpses into people's lives, illuminated
with emotions. Intimate moments, in private or public space, are revealed.
Father Land, Oshagan's first volume of photographs, more than 10 years in
the making, appeared at the end of 2010. It is a collaboration with his
father Vahé Oshagan, who passed away in 2000. Its Brooklyn-based publisher,
powerHouse Books, hosted an exhibition of some 20 photographs from November
to December 2010, Oshagan signed books at the International Center of
Photography in Manhattan a few weeks later and a larger exhibition, ending
this January, was held at the Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery.
Father Land contains a preface by Vahé Oshagan, the noted poet and writer,
in its original Western Armenian, together with an English translation by G.
M. Goshgarian, and Ara Oshagan's images, along with a brief afterword and
acknowledgments by Ara Oshagan. In words and photos respectively, the father
and son explored in parallel the victorious newly-independent but
unrecognized and isolated Republic of Mountainous Karabagh from 1998 to
2006. Vahé's essay was the last thing he wrote before dying. He wanted
to
understand as a Diasporan Armenian what Karabagh meant to him, the Armenian
identity and to humanity. `Father Land' not only is a literal translation of
the Armenian word for homeland, but also refers to the paternal relationship
between Vahé and Ara, and Ara's own fatherhood (he became a father four
times over during the course of the preparation of this project).
Vahé Oshagan gives the historical background to Karabagh that can, to a
degree, help contextualize his son's photos. As a paradigmatically transient
diasporan, Vahé romanticized what he terms `this ancient, ancestral, magical
soil, with the riddle and the secret power of Armenianness.' The Armenian
fighters of Karabagh are greater than those elsewhere because of their ties
to the land: `What counts, in their case, as the bare minimum of fortitude
and audacity is already more than can be reasonably demanded of any other
soldier.' `There is no dying in the fatherland,' because you are not
alone -
your land, family and people perpetuate you. As Vahé describes his travel
through Karabagh, both through its history and its present reality, the
beauty of the natural landscapes and the churches built by the Armenians
impress Vahé as sublime. He sought the secret to the Armenians' survival in
Karabagh in the warlike cruelty of the people, as well as the culture and
the tie to the land.
Ara Oshagan explained recently his father was `trying to understand what
man
is - what is the linkage between history, humanity and soul, these larger
issues, through Karabagh.'
Ara Oshagan and his father deliberately did not illustrate one another. He
declared, `We did not want one or the other medium to be subservient. We
wanted to create a piece of art about this place, allowing the reader to
find - or not find - connections.'
Ara's task was different from that of his father: `In a direct sense,
photography is about the present, so it doesn't deal with history in the
same way. My approach was to look at the relationship I have to this place.
Even though I'm Armenian and this is part of my distant homeland, I was 38
years old, and I had never been there before.'
The way he explored that relationship was `through having a particular
viewpoint in my photographs, a very specific way of seeing, and that is what
defines my relationship in visual terms to the place. Looking at the world,
I'm very keenly aware of my own place in it, and in terms of my own eyes, I
am trying to develop a type of visual vocabulary about how I see the world.
Karabagh was seen through that visual vocabulary.'
All the photographs were taken in black and white, on film. Ara Oshagan
said, `My viewpoint - my visual vocabulary - seems to translate itself better
in black and white than in color. I've tried both, but black and white seems
to be the way I see the world. It is obviously a more stark way of seeing.
Color will bring in more emotional content. Black and white tends to be more
about structure and shape, and form, at least for it to be successful, while
that is not always true for color.'
The photographs are all uncropped. In Ara's approach, he said, `A lot of
things repeat in my photos, not all of them obviously. There is a sort of
layering. There are oftentimes multiple things going on. Things are outside
the frame - in the foreground or background, or out of focus. These sorts of
things are the alphabet. It is like a novel, with a clear viewpoint at
times, and other times passages that are not that clear.'
Ara Oshagan continued to travel to Karabagh after his father passed away:
`I
wandered and photographed and connected to whatever I could. I really,
really wanted to photograph the army, so I spent three days at an army base.
That was very specific - trying to get a specific image in a specific
context. In general, I just went where I felt there was a deep connection.
I
spent a lot of time only in a few places, though I traveled all over this
country.'
What is amazing is that Ara Oshagan was able to photograph very intimate
moments in people's lives, sometimes in the very bosom of a family. He
explained how this was accomplished: `I spend a lot of time with people so
they become really comfortable with your presence and what you are doing. My
presence is always there. They have to ignore my camera, so that they don't
even notice that action and process. They may even continue speaking to me
as if there is no camera between us.'
He sometimes gets what he seeks in one shot. Other times, `I may take many
frames. I will not know whether I have made a good image or not. Sometimes
I
think I made a great image, but it is not really good, or the opposite can
happen. When I'm actually making the image it is instinctual.' Afterwards,
the advice of a good editor with some distance from the work can be helpful.
Ara Oshagan never formally studied photography. He works as a geophysicist
during the day, but has a flexible work schedule and tries to work on his
photography as much as possible. He grew up as a child in the Armenian
environment of Beirut and when he came to the US with his family, he moved
around a lot, living in places like Madison, Wis. or Memphis, Tenn., without
much contact with Armenian communities. He feels this made him understand
marginalization and gave him an identity with several dimensions. He
declared, `A diasporan identity is about not just being Armenian, but
something else too: between languages, between Armenian and English, between
different ways of thinking. The diaspora exists in a middle space.'
With a father and a grandfather (Hagop Oshagan) who were famous writers, Ara
Oshagan initially attempted to express himself through writing, though he
studied physics in order to have a practical profession to support his
artistry. Then, something changed, he said: `At some point I stumbled onto
photography and I realized that it is a better medium for me. I was able to
connect with the medium very quickly and easily and make pictures that were
significant for me, much more easily than writing. It took me a while: there
was a struggle for a while between writing and photography, but I realized
that it was not the medium but what you are trying to do through the medium.
I went into photography as my art - my life.'
Ara Oshagan felt that coming from a lineage of writers is a double-edged
sword: `On the one hand, you have this momentum - two generations of authors
and artists giving you a push forward into certain ways of thinking and
creating and appreciating art. You have all these things you know firsthand
and intuitively that other people perhaps must struggle to obtain. On the
other hand, there is the issue of coming out of the shadow. People like my
father and grandfather cast long and heavy shadows.'
Vahé Oshagan in a way became a poet to distinguish himself from his famous
novelist father. When Ara Oshagan still thought of becoming a novelist, he
wanted to write in English instead of Armenian, but then went into the
totally different medium of photography. He added, `I think that one of the
results of having artists in previous generations is that your maturation
seems to take longer. My father did not publish his first book until he was
in his 30s; I'm 46 now with my first book out.'
Some things appear to have been passed down through three generations, Ara
Oshagan found: `There is a spirit of breaking rules that came from my
grandfather. My father took that spirit, and introduced curse words and
conversational language into Armenian poetry for the first time. In a way,
my style of photography also tends to break a lot of rules, in terms of
images being very easily understood=85.I did not do that very consciously,
but
when I first started taking pictures, I was doing it in that way. I realized
I was doing it and developed it further later.' A second shared element is
being open-minded and accepting of everything that comes your way.
Most of Ara Oshagan's work concerns Armenians. He attempts to avoid an overt
nationalistic agenda, as he is exploring his own community in order to talk
about people in general. Oshagan said, `I think the bad part of nationalism
or the thing that subverts art is to have an agenda, when you are trying to
pursue a nationalistic cause through your art. But you can love your nation
and do projects about Armenians, and choose to do it through an active
witnessing through photography, exploring without a particular agenda, as in
Karabagh, I don't see a contradiction.' He added that `visual language is
very different from written - it can distance you from obvious, clear
nationalistic elements.'
As a Diasporan-Armenian now living in Glendale, Ara Oshagan has done
photography projects about survivors of the Armenian Genocide and Los
Angeles-area Armenians, and still, he says, `there is a constant idea or
need for return within me. One of my grand projects is to document, through
a self- reflective project, the Armenian Diaspora, not only in LA, but in
Beirut, Aleppo, Jerusalem and Kessab, the faces of the diaspora - the face
of our transnational nation which will reveal itself somehow. I would be
able to explore that aspect of my identity. It is about looking at myself,
my own community, the diaspora. What does it mean to be a transnational
people? What I want to address is humanity, and issues about community and
memory, through my work and through the Armenian community.'
Ara Oshagan has four more photography books ready to be published and
samples of his work can be viewed in the permanent collections of the
Southeast Museum of Photography in Daytona Beach, Fla., the Downey Museum of
Art in Downey, Calif. and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Yerevan. To find
out more, visit http://araoshagan.com/.
*************************************************************
3. Levon Jamgochian: Legendary Painter, Printmaker and Sculptor
*By Marni Pilafian*
Special to the *Mirror-Spectator*
WHEATON,Md. - The steep climb of 20 handcrafted steps to reach the hilltop
home of artist Levon Jamgochian was only the beginning of this adventure.
Wheaton is a Washington suburb of scant hills; but Jamgochian bought a house
on a steep hillside. (`It reminded me of the churches built into the sides
of steep mountains in the rugged countryside of Armenia.')
He used to tie a rope to his lawnmower to cut the grass by sending it down
the hill and pulling it up again and again; in order to avoid this
exhausting method, he built a series of terraces to overcome the steepness
and planted pines and evergreens. Lush arbors resulted. He framed the front
door with slender evergreens, growing and bending over time, bowing over the
entrance. It graces the inner- sanctum of the artist.
The house has walls lined with a rich history of Jamgochian's works. Prints
hang in order of their gallery showings, evolving from one medium with a
one-dimensional view to layer upon layer of prints evolving into something
magical. In one series, a simple view of nature evolves into a series of
prints bringing forth images of a New York skyline.
The living room holds wood sculptures wrought and rendered from nature.
Gnarled roots of wood, tree knots and elbows placed at angles to capture the
imagination, installed on a finished block of wood. Some appear to capture
the human form in all its grace. Others bend the imagination in attempting
to place the object into a known perspective . Looking upward, colorful
paintings suspended from the ceiling surprise the visitor. These are the
highly skilled works of a truly gifted, passionate and hardworking artist.
Jamgochian, born in Beirut, is an artist with a global following. He has
held more than 50 solo exhibitions worldwide, from Miami to Milan to Moscow,
from Istanbul to Toronto, from the Ukraine to Echmiadzin.
At the age of 12, he studied art at the Melkonian Educational Institute in
Cyprus with Sebouh Apkarian. He graduated with a first prize from Brera
Academy of Fine Arts, Milan, Italy, and from the Academy of Fine Arts in
Venice.
Trained also as an interior designer, he had earlier designed the homes of
several senators in the metro Washington area.
Yet his passion is in creating art.
He has a permanent display of his works in Gumri, at the National
Architecture and Urban Life Museum. After the Armenian earthquake of 1988,
Jamgochian was invited by the Armenian government to show his work, and was
hoping to establish an international graphic art center, museum and gallery
in Gumri, before the promises were broken.
He started an arts education program there and also taught in Yerevan. He
discovered passion in his students' works over the course of the two years
he lived in Armenia, and through their inspiration, he discovered more of
his own.
Jamgochian donated more than $300,000 worth of his paintings to assist in
the post-earthquake relief efforts, raising funds by exhibiting all over the
Caucasus region, in Russia and the Ukraine.
His work is the culmination of his life and learning within four cultures
-
Lebanon, where he grew up; Armenia, his ancestral home; Italy, where he
studied art and interior design and America, where all his experiences and
perceptions combined and transformed into unique multicultural,
multi-faceted paintings, sculptures and prints.
As Montgomery College art professor John Carr described, `More than a few
images seem to have sprouted from seeds carried by the wind from distant
mysterious places. These works offer welcomed, challenging visual adventures
that require thorough examination and careful thought to be appreciated.'
Jamgochian has received numerous grants, invitations from governments to
exhibit and teach art. He is a recognized artist of global proportions by
the international media. Jamgochian's permanent collections are included
in
the museums of cities such as Yerevan at the Armenian Genocide Museum, Gumri
at the National Architecture and Urban Life Museum, the National Gallery in
Yerevan, Vanadzor, Yeghegnadzor and Echmiadzin; in the Smithsonian Institute
in Washington, DC; museums in Paris, Venice and Kiev, Ukraine; the Mardigian
Museum in Jerusalem, the Museum of the Catholicosate at Antelias, Lebanon
and the National Galleries of Stepanakert and Shushi, Artsakh.
His current collection of works, titled `The Eternity Suite,' is a lifetime
of pieces, some created as early as 1961. At the age of 15, he found a
branch on a mountain in Lebanon, near Faraya, and turned it into a
sculpture. That branch began his evolution of sculptures rendered from
natural wood growths. Many of them have found their way into his garden out
back, beginning as roots of trees.
`There is an interrelationship of images; when I create those sculptures, I
take the images and forms from nature. My sculptures sculpt themselves. I
follow the natural forms - what nature gives me. Nature takes the lead,' he
explained.
One large c-shaped root is suspended over a wooden block base by a wire. It
is a model of a larger sculpture that he can create and install as an
outdoor exhibit. It moves, much like, he explains, life. `We take from life.
And we give it back. Let the viewer interpret it. There is a lot of hidden
symbolism. I try to go beyond the visible. I like to let people draw their
own conclusions,' he added.
His art comes from his perception of nature and how he transforms it.
Symbolism evolves from his semi-surrealistic approach to sculpture and
printmaking.
`I like to go beyond the visible and blend what is inside of me with what I
see. I invite the viewer to become a participant in my art,' Jamgochian
said. `I want them to discover in my works things that I may not have
discovered myself.'
His print series, `Before Dusk' and `Eternal Fields and Hills,' led him to
focus on five images. Using different techniques, his images began to
transform into surreal and abstract images.
`Since 9/11, a lot of changes have been going on in my images,' said
Jamgochian. `I came slowly, print by print, embossing on top of the main
images, to recognize a newimage started to emerge - water, fire, earth,
nature. Water appears in the background. The prints are organic.'
Carr adds, `Subtle metaphors, complex layers of color and texture, as well
as intellectual depth all contribute to bring these works to life.'
In his art studies at Brera, Jamgochian did his thesis on ancient Armenian
miniatures. The refined techniques and soft, subdued and some bright colors
of this historical art is reflected in his works. His known and imagined
patterns of nature in his focal image evolve, print by print, into a surreal
pattern.
`Something else emerges,' he says. `It leads one to focus on different
images. The images evolve. The viewer sees a different concept.'
The prints are made as monotype, the only one of its kind, and lithographs,
with few prints produced. The traditional approach to printmaking is to pull
a limited number of prints from the same plate (etchings, lithographs),
number them and then destroy or `strike' the printing plate. Jamgochian has
developed unique methods of transforming the original plate, utilizing the
prepared aluminum technique, stencils and embossing. His `reverse roller
image technique' yields monochromatic and shaded images, producing a hidden
surrealism.
`Very lyrical,' he points out. `The most important issue I want to focus on
is that we are ruining nature. I try to maintain nature's purity - the
shapes in the prints become rocks which are transformed into human figures.
This emerged as my `Survivor Series.' Some of the images of trees were
transformed into survivors. Forms and images recur, even without thinking
about it, because deep down relationships between survivors demonstrate
human sufferance as in 9/11. And yetmy forms all come from nature, not from
human forms.' His creative perceptions are expressed through his art as
visual metaphor.
Jamgochian's work fits into the framework of modern printmaking in the
world's art timeline.
`From the 1960s to the 1980s to the present, I developed novel ideas and
techniques, but I don't want to overdo it. I am the sole processor of my
prints. I use no assistants. The evolution of results I have produced speak
for themselves.'
His collection of prints and wood sculptures will be featured in his solo
exhibition, `Eternity Suite.' He calls his exhibits by a traditional musical
series of works, or `suite' to highlight the broader scope of his works as
viewed by his conceptual lens as an artist. They deliver a common message
through variations on a common theme of design. His `Unity Is Strength'
suite, for example, links an image of Mount Ararat to the New York City
skyline and the Statue of Liberty, his first vision of America when he
arrived in 1968. Visiting Armenia in 1979 had a profound effect on his art.
As one of the second generation of Armenians removed from the 1915 Armenian
Genocide, he was struck by the contrast between his new life in the United
States and his historical ancestry. His `Unity Is Strength' suite developed
from this experience, fusing Jamgochian's old world with his new world. In
one lithograph, `Welcome to the New World,' a large diamond held up by
a
human figure, hovers over a city skyline. `The diamond symbolizes purity,
strength and power, which, inverted, is also the shape of Mount Ararat. When
I was there, I was very moved by it,' he explained.
In Jamgochian's series of `Eternity' prints, the initial five basic images
are metamorphosed, leading into pure, mystical, organic and religiously-
indestructible values, which are also depicted in the wooden sculptures, as
the morphed nature of rotting Earth.
Concerned about his future ability to produce works of art since he has
become disabled after two accidents, he has been focused on preparing for
his exhibit for the past year, in spite of daily back pain.
Jamgochian's opening reception will launch the `Eternity Suite' exhibit, on
February 6, 1:30 to 3:30 p.m., and will run through March 1 at Rockville
Civic Center Park, at the Glenview Mansion Art Gallery, 603 Edmonston Drive,
Rockville, Md. The gallery opening will also feature an afternoon solo
concert by his gifted and award-winning violinist son, Arec Jamgochian, 15,
accompanied by pianist Irina Kats, spanning different eras of classical
composers.
`This collection is my last hurrah,' he sighed.
Let us hope not.
*************************************************************************
4. Commentary: South Sudan Vote Gives Hope to Karabagh
*By Edmond Y. Azadian*
There is euphoria in Armenia's news media. The political pundits there are
having a field day speculating and commenting on the impact the South Sudan
referendum may have on the Karabagh conflict, which has been confined to a
legal straitjacket, juxtaposing the principles of territorial integrity with
the self-determination of minorities. Baku, understandably, is mute on the
issue.
Indeed, after 50 years of civil strife and two decades of active war, with
2
million casualties, South Sudan finally was allowed to hold a referendum
last week, at the conclusion of a deal brokered in 2005 by the US
government.
Sudan is one of the oil-rich countries in the heart of Africa. It seems that
war and political tensions gravitate towards the oil wells of the world.
Sudan has a population of 40 million. South Sudan has only 4 million
population but its territory produces 80 percent of Sudan's entire oil
output, some 490,000 barrels a day, the third biggest in sub- Saharan
Africa. That, of course, could become a bone of contention between the South
and the North, but the 2005 peace agreement has provisions of oil revenue
sharing between both entities.
The optimism in Armenia is derived from the fact that the principle of
minority self-determination is gaining prominence over territorial
integrity. Unfortunately, that optimism is not fully justified because each
and every similar case has political determinants in the background, which
outweigh justice, historical right and international law.
President Jimmy Carter was in Sudan monitoring the voting and President
Barack Obama had a profusion of praise for parties in the Sudanese conflict.
He called the peaceful and orderly referendum an `inspiration' and he added
a cautious warning: `We urge all parties to continue to urge calm and
restraint as the parties work to complete implementation of the 2005
comprehensive peace agreement. The past week has given the world a renewed
faith in the prospect of a peaceful, prosperous future for all the Sudanese
people - a future that the American people long to see in Sudan.'
It looks like the people in Karabagh have to wait a very long time for the
American people and its president to `long for a peaceful future' in that
tortured part of the world.
The results of the vote indicate that a new nation will be born in Africa,
seceding from Sudan. The results will be announced on February 14 and
independence will be formally declared on July 9. With this referendum in
Sudan, another precedent is established where the tenets of territorial
integrity are shattered. But all those principles are only fig leaves to
camouflage the political interests in the background.
Sudan perennially has been a country of coup d'etats. The government of
Jaafar Nimeiri was toppled by Ahmed al-Mirghani, which in turn was toppled
by the current dictator, Omar al-Bashir, who introduced the Sharia law in
the country and engaged in an active persecution of the Southern Christians
and animists. Such actions, of course provided a good opportunity for the
West to destabilize Sudan, whose international politics was veering towards
being a rogue state. During the current administration, Sudan also became a
conduit for China's economic, political and military penetration into the
African heartland, alarming the West.
Before Sudan, Col. Muammar Gaddafi's Libya was bombed during the Reagan
administration and the US-engineered international pressure brought to bear
in Libyan politics, which renounced terrorism, paid $2.5 billion for bombing
Pan Am flight over Lockerbie and above all, toned down its anti-Israeli
rhetoric.
Similarly, a Sudanese pharmaceutical factory was also bombed during the
Clinton administration, under the accusation that it was producing chemical
weapons.
Of course, President al-Bashir gave just excuses for the West to declare his
country a pariah state, namely because of his genocidal politics in Darfur.
The international court issued an arrest warrant, with the backing of
Washington, to contain Sudan's homicidal actions. And in line with the US's
Libyan policy, the Khartoum government cut a deal with the US to hold a
referendum in the South and honor the results.
Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, many territorial adjustments have
been made in different parts of the world and many minorities have exerted
their right for self-determination and achieved independence such as East
Timor, Eritrea, Somaliland, Slovenia, Kosovo, Montenegro and Macedonia,
South Ossetia and Abkhazia. All these precedents leave no excuse forbidding
Karabagh people to determine their own fate.
In all these cases, the only distinction was that some minorities broke away
with the consent or tacit agreement of the majority rulers, and others were
forced by major forces.
East Timor has a long history of conflict with the Jakarta regime, after
Indonesia gained its independence from Holland. Finally Jakarta agreed to a
referendum, which freed East Timor.
Eritrea benefited from Ethiopia's internal turmoil to declare its
independence.
But Kosovo's independence was the outcome of an international power game
between Russia and the West. The US, which had antagonized the Muslim world
through its unconditional support of Israel, found an opportunity to provide
a free gift to the Muslim world by supporting the independence of a Muslim
minority in the heart of Europe, by dismantling the former Yugoslavia by
force. Of course, Kosovo's independence had further political and symbolic
ramifications as well; as the European Union was mustering its forces and
pooling its Christian values eventually to challenge US's unipolar world
domination, Kosovo would become a monkey wrench in those European
aspirations, like Turkey could become one day with Washington's blessing.
The symbolic significance of Kosovo's independence was that Serbia's
backbone was broken and a line in the sand was drawn for Russian influence
in Europe and particularly in the Balkans. As the West was pushing for
Kosovo's independence and recognition by other nations, Moscow vehemently
opposed the move and warned that there could be a settling of scores in the
international arena. And that opportunity was afforded to Russia by
Georgia's frivolous President Mikheil Saakashvili when he began saber-
battling in South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Russia took up the challenge,
destroyed the Georgian army and recognized those enclaves as independent
nations.
Some Latin American countries such as Nicaragua and Venezuela, to please
Russia and spite the West, recognized the independence of those two
entities.
What do all these case analyses bring to the issue of Karabagh?
Unfortunately, Karabagh falls in the category of Kosovo, Abkhazia and South
Ossetia, where the ruling majority was coerced to relinquish a chunk of its
territory to a struggling minority, the principle of territorial integrity
notwithstanding.
Where is the major power to force Baku rulers to recognize the results of
1994 war and the referendum of 1991. On the contrary, it is in the interest
of the major powers - including our `strategic ally' Russia - to keep the
Karabagh conflict frozen to cajole or to threaten Azerbaijan to wrest
economic and political concessions. Baku authorities maintain an active
trade partnership with Taiwan, while they refuse to recognize Karabagh's
right to self-determination. Similarly Turkey keeps under its occupation
Northern Cyprus, beating its breast forminority rights, while actively
refusing to grant those same rights to the people of Karabagh.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and President Obama were so much in favor
of Southern Sudan's independence they can hardly think of granting the same
treatment to Karabagh. Therefore, all these principles and lofty rhetoric on
international law are just like shoes to fit the feet of politicians and
statesmen.
If Kosovo and South Sudan can enjoy independence, the same political
conditions and the same principles of self-determination entitle Karabagh
people to have their own independence.
But when you pose the question to the leaders of the major powers, they will
concoct and manufacture all kinds of laws and conditions that the Karabagh
situation is `different.'
The only guarantee for Karabagh's security and independence comes from
Armenia. And Armenia's shrinking population hangs a big question mark over
the settlement of Karabagh. When dust settles in South Sudan, our pundits in
Armenia will realize that their anticipation of a precedent for Karabagh was
overrated.
From: A. Papazian