CONTINUITY AND RUPTURE:

An Armenian Family Odyssey

On View:

March 24 - April 28, 2018

Opening Reception:

Saturday | March 24 | 6PM - 9PM

Continuity and Rupture: An Armenian Family Odyssey traces the lives of the Dildilian family through the last decades of the Ottoman Empire and the violent eradication of Armenians from their homeland in the 1915 genocide.

Drawing upon the family archive consisting of thousands of photographs, glass negatives, drawings, artwork, documents, letters, and family heirlooms, this exhibition provides a unique perspective of a tumultuous time through the lens of one Armenian family.

This exhibition tells the story of an Armenian family, the Dildilians, many of whose members worked as photographers in Ottoman Turkey. They lived, worked, and raised their families in the Anatolian cities of Sebastia (Sivas), Marsovan (Merzifon), Samsun and the surrounding communities. The story begins in the 1870s, tracing the lives of the Dildilians through the last decades of the declining Ottoman Empire. The rupture created by the genocide and their eventual exile from their homeland in 1922 play a central role in the story. While the surviving members of the family rebuilt their lives in their adopted countries of Greece, France, and the United States, the Dildilians never forgot the life they left behind. The story is a painful one, encompassing the violent eradication of Armenians from their 3,000-year old homeland. Yet the photographic narrative also testifies to the cultural, educational, and commercial achievements of this proud nation.  Armenians were among the first photographers in the Middle East. Their talents soon gave them a dominant role in the profession.