Entangled Roots Press | Blog

I wanted to share the history of the rug that I ch

I wanted to share the history of the rug that I chose to highlight in my illustration for this part of the zine. I ended up including a symbolism glossary to share stories like this in the back.

#armenianrug #armenianpottery #operationnemesis #zine

Creating work through printmaking brings be joy! B

Creating work through printmaking brings be joy! Being surrounded by printing presses is my happy place.

Thank you @entanikofficial for inviting folks to share their joy after a day of remembering and grief. We #surviveandthrive

Accidentally deleted my first post, so reposting!

Today, April 24, is Armenian Genocide Rememberance

Today, April 24, is Armenian Genocide Rememberance Day. Today we remember the 1.5 million Armenians, the 900,000 Greeks and the 400,000 Assyrians who were systemically murdered by the Ottoman Empire. This illustration is a modified clip from my new zine "Operation Nemesis". For so long Armenians here in the U.S. have been calling on this government to do the bare minimum of recognizing the Genocide. It has been a political move to never use the "g" word as modern day Turkey is an "ally." The Armenian community is elated that recognition has finally come. Today while we mourn we also celebrate. But we will not forget that this government still has children in cages, still provides military and financial support to continue the occupation of Palestine, still bombs the SWANA region and continues it's legacies of colonialism and imperialism both here and abroad. We can celebrate and still be critical. They aren't mutually exclusive. Every April 24th we remember. And every April 24th we should renew our resolve to fight for justice everywhere.

The second slide is of me a few years ago at the Genocide Memorial in Yerevan in front of the name of the city where my great-grandparents were born, Bitlis. Also known as Baghesh. Where 99% of the Armenian population vanished from the statistical record between 1915 and 1917.

The third slide I am leaving flowers at the eternal flame for my ancestors. Both for those who survived and those who didn't. I'm the only one of my immediate family that has been able to do so and it was an extremely emotional experience. On April 24th this space is filled with people and flowers paying respects to this collective memory, this collective grief and this collective hope. We are a collective poem that is woven in our stories and in our veins.

#ArmenianGenocideRemembranceDay #april24 #1915neveragain #weremember #armenian #assyrian #greek #justice #wearestillhere #armenianpottery #armenianrug #landback #operationnemesis #recognition #armeniangenocide #rememberance #swana #ancestors #swanaancestral #zines #illustration #peopleshistory #ottomanempire #allempiresfall

“This Year is Different” By: @galykouyoumjian

“This Year is Different”
By: @galykouyoumjian

“I grew up learning about the Genocide, and I continue to learn new things about it every year.

The topic of the Armenian Genocide has been normalized for me.
I don’t recall when I first learned about the heinous event that disrupted my entire family tree.
I am always reminded of where I came from, or better yet - how I came to be.
The legacy of the Armenian Genocide lives within me.

But this year I felt fear in my bones that I had never felt before.
It was a fear that took my mind to places I never want to revisit.

A fear that threatened my past, present, and future.”

#ArmenianGenocideRemembranceDay
Reposted from @full__potential

Reposted from @zoravik This April 24 is different

Reposted from @zoravik

This April 24 is different from previous years.

This past September, amid a global pandemic, Turkey backed Azerbaijan as it launched a full-scale invasion of Artsakh, ethnically cleansing much of the territory of its indigenous Armenian population.

All the actions of the Turkish-Azerbaijani alliance in Artsakh point to genocidal intent. The sustained bombing campaign of civilian areas, hospitals, and schools, as well as the kidnapping, torture, and execution of Armenian civilians, were aimed at creating an Artsakh without Armenians. These actions have shifted in form after the ceasefire: Erdogan praised Enver Pasha, one of the masterminds of the Armenian Genocide during Azerbaijan's victory parade. More recently, Azerbaijani officials opened a war trophy park with helmets of dead Armenian servicemen.

International media and human rights organizations have consistently failed to highlight the genocidal context of this recent war. Their silence or tacit bias in favor of Azerbaijan again proves that geopolitics are more important than the rights of an indigenous people to live on their ancestral lands. The same indifference resulted in the Holocaust, the Rwandan Genocide, and genocidal violence and ethnic cleansing in Kosovo in 1998. We have also seen that crimes against humanity have taken place when the interests of the powerful trump universal human rights. The genocide of Native Americans by Europeans, the oppression of Palestinians by Israel, and Turkey's persistent aggression against Kurds not only within Turkey but also in Syria and Iraq, belie a belief that certain lives are more valuable than others.

Speaking up for these victims of genocidal aggression is long overdue. The Armenian Genocide was not a one-off event that happened in the past. If anything, the events of the past six months should highlight the fact that a genocide denied is a genocide continued.

Zoravik Armenian Activist Collective
April 2021

I'm excited to finally release this zine that I've

I'm excited to finally release this zine that I've been working on over the past couple of months. It's my first graphic novel zine and the second zine I've ever created. I had wanted to create this for some time and was able to have the time and guidance as the final project of my Nonfiction Graphic Novels class (thank you @toddedwardbak
for the instruction, support and knowledge)

Hand printed 2-color screen print cover, hand bound, internal pages are copies of pen and ink illustrations with watercolor

Nemesis is the Greek goddess of divine retribution and vengeance. Operation Nemesis was the name of a covert operation that occurred during the 1920s to assassinate the masterminds of the Armenian Genocide. This zine summarizes the incidents leading up to this action, some of those who were involved and what some of the affects were. Entangling bits of my ancestors history into the events that took place, this zine explores concepts of justice and why recognition of past atrocities is an important step toward preventing their recurrence.

#operationnemesis #nemesis #celebratepeopleshistory #peopleshistory #armenia #armeniangenocide #neveragain #april24 #zine #screenprint #printmaking #printmaker #goddess #sword #scales #justice #armenian #mtararat #armenianrug #armenianpottery #poppies #swana #graphicnovel #radicalprintmaking #recognizethearmeniangenocide

March 24 is the Day of Remembrance for Truth and J

March 24 is the Day of Remembrance for Truth and Justice (Día de la Memoria por la Verdad y la Justicia) in Argentina. This day, an annual public holiday throughout the country, serves as an official remembrance of the period of state-sponsored terror that occurred during the military dictatorship between the years 1976 and 1983.

The annual Day of Remembrance is an opportunity to commemorate and honor the memory of everyone whose lives were forever changed by the murders, tortures, and disappearances carried out during the cruel dictatorship. The date, March 24, coincides with the initiation of the coup d’etat in 1976, which installed the military junta that would be responsible for approximately 30,000 forced disappearances over the following 7 years.

The military government’s censorships prevented any discussion of the matter. Within a terrorist state, those who spoke out put their own lives in danger.

Yet, in the face of the disappearance of their children, in 1977 a group of mothers began to meet each Thursday in the large Plaza de Mayo in Buenos Aires, the site of Argentina’s government. There they walked in non-violent demonstrations. As they walked they chanted: “We want our children; we want them to tell us where they are.”

The mothers simple request was the first time any of the public had spoken out against the brutality of the regime. The movement and numbers of women whose children had “disappeared” grew. In their weekly demonstrations some carried pictures of the missing children. Later they wore white scarfs to symbolize the white dove of peace.

White flowers are placed yearly in the Rio de la Plata where many of the disappeared were believed to have been thrown out of helicopters.

I made this print during a printmaking residency, while also visiting my family and friends there, about six ago in Buenos Aires. I created three prints uplifting different people's movements in Argentina during my residency.

#24demarzo #madresdeplazademayo #argentina #remember #justice #truth #díadelamemoria #justicia #verdad #buenosaires #reliefprint #peopleshistory #printmakingasresistance #printmaking #nuncamás

I wanted to share some printing process photos of

I wanted to share some printing process photos of my most recent piece. I printed a proof of the relief print and then used that as a guide to draw the red layer using opaque pens on mylar. After burning that drawing to my screen I used the proof of the relief print to set up the screen print on the paper so it would line up directly underneath the relief print. When those were done I went back over to the letterpress where the block was still locked up and printed the black layer on top. All my work is hand drawn, carrved and printed (except one recent lil pen and ink that I had a digital print made of- gasp!) It takes a lot of work to print everything yourself and to draw and carve by hand. There's no undo button, the layers are physical, you can't "create layers" with the push of a button. If I accidentally make a mark on the block I have to work it in somehow. This is not to say that digital work and things like procreate are worse, but different. Those are just a different set of skills. All the production has my hand in it and is not produced by some third party venture or print on demand set up. These are great for folks to get their work out there. I try to keep my work as affordable and accessable as possible, but still be fair to my labor and time all while supporting movements and groups that are doing important work Thank you all for the support. It means so much.

#radicalprintmaking #screenprint #reliefprint #letterpress #handmade #ownthemeansofproduction #printingpress #swana #solidarity #printmaking #behindthescenes #printmaker #printmakingart

This print celebrates the resilience, sacrifice an

This print celebrates the resilience, sacrifice and strength of SWANA freedom fighters throughout history & the solidarity that exists. It was originally inspired by an article I read about an exhibition held in Tatvan, a district of Bitlis that was highlighting the Armenian presence in the region. My ancestors are from Bitlis, now within the borders of modern day Turkey.

"On March 1, the first day of the exhibition, 2 new BDP local election offices were opened, and a rally was organized with the “Peace Mothers,” as they call them—the mothers of Kurdish guerillas, some killed, some lost; their families do not know of their whereabouts. It was easy to identify them from a distance, because all of the Peace Mothers wore large & long white shawls to cover their heads & shoulders, made of very thin cotton. The highpoint of the day was when one of the Peace Mothers came, almost stormed in, went up to Sarafian (the founder and director of the Gomidas Institute), hugged him tightly, & with tears in her eyes said, “Ez Qurbana te bim” in Kurdish, which literally means, “I would die for you,” a powerful expression of affection. The word Qurban/Kurban is a common word in Turkish, Kurdish, & the local Armenian dialect & signifies “sacrifice.” While still holding him, she continued to speak in Kurdish, w/ Betul trying to catch up with her words to translate them to Sarafian. “Welcome my dear son. Thank you for bringing this to us. How happy I am to see you here. Your people are my people… My grandfather was Armenian… You look so much like my uncle. He was dark-skinned just like you w/ dark eyebrows & eyes.”

This moving & beautiful occurrence was the jumping off point to this piece. This shared history, dynamic and fluctuating, must center the sacrifice of the people who struggle and continue to struggle. The fight for the people, the land, dignity, & self-determination was not just carried out by men. I wanted to celebrate all the women who sacrificed their lives or their common roles for the struggle. This print highlights just 3 movements & people from the region. Read about the women shown on my site. Link in bio.

1/2 the proceeds of this print go to the @cspp.pdx

Load More... Follow on Instagram

×