This series of works is based on exercises made while learning the Armenian alphabet. The repeated letters form patterns which, while recognisable as signs, remain incomprehensible to non-Armenians. This documentation of a learning-moment relates to the loss of the mother tongue experienced through migration in general, and specifically by the Armenians living in the diaspora. Exile reduces the old language to a corpse. At the same time Garabedian is exploring the relation between signifiers and signified, comprehension and incomprehension.
(Courtesy the artist and Baronian Xippas)
Artists: Mekhitar Garabedian