The Illuminations

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Armenia

Beyond Genocide #2, completed 2004.

The rich and ancient history of the Armenian people provided ample material for visual exploration in this illumination. The Turkish government’s campaign of genocide against its Christian Armenians at the beginning of the 20th century eliminated virtually the entire Armenian population from their homeland of nearly three thousand years. The pre-World War One Turkish government targeted its Armenian population for annihilation by executing teenage and adult males and organizing mass deportations into the Syrian and Mesopotamian deserts of women and children.

The visual details of this illumination spans the breadth of history of the Armenian people recognizing the creation of the Armenian alphabet in the 4th century, holy landmarks and structures, 19th and 20th century folk arts and imagery of the deportations beginning in 1915.