Thompson Gallery Exhibit Explores Armenian Art and Culture

Kiss the Ground is a three-part exhibition series that examines and celebrates contemporary Armenian art, organized to overlap the centennial memorialization of the 1915 Armenian Genocide. The three shows in the series explore Armenian culture from different vantages, yet intersect on themes of memory, loss and celebration. 

The first exhibition in the Kiss the Ground series (September 5 to November 15, 2014) showcases the art of Armenian born, Chicago-based Gagik Aroutiunian, whose art centers on issues of identity, memory and the displacement of family. Works on display include multimedia assemblage sculptures, paintings and video projections. 

Gallery Director, curator of the series and CSW art teacher Todd Bartel said he assembled the series to “demonstrate the power of memory during this particular hundred-year marker.” “The title of the series comes from the etymological roots of an Armenian word for liturgy, ‘yergurbakootyoon.’ A word that translates literally to mean ‘kissing the ground,’ and implies the idea of ‘effort.’ Yergurbakootyoon also suggests reverence for land, for home, for country, for place, for people, and for a way of living,” added Todd.

“Sculptural processes and materials are manifestations of object matter,” Aroutuinian described. “Images, video and light, on the other hand, represent illusion. While the first is a primary means for me to represent identity and its displacement, the second is a way to represent memory and its transience.” 

“There are tragic stories from both sides of my family,” said Megherian. “I feel compelled to give them a voice—in part, for a people that have not healed, in part for myself, and in part for my family that still remembers.” 

The final show in the series, Kiss the Ground—Contemporary Armenian Art (March 30 to June 13, 2015) is a group exhibition that brings together a collection of Armenian artists working in diverse media: John Avakian’s (social justice print-making), Gail Boyajian’s (allegorical painting), Adrienne Der Marderosian (works on paper), Jackie Kazarian (abstract painting), Aida Laleian (digital collage), Yefkin Megherian (bronze bas-reliefs), Marsha Odabashian (installation art), Kevork Mourad (gestural painting), and Apo Torosyan (film).