For Immediate Release
USC INSTITUTE OF ARMENIAN STUDIES
University of Southern California
Los Angeles, California, USA
Contact: Salpi Ghazarian, Director
Armenian@usc.edu
213.821.3943
THE PRESENCE OF ABSENCE: PHOTOGRAPHING LOSS AND VIOLENCE
Armen Marsoobian, Chairman of the Philosophy Department at Southern Connecticut State University and author of FRAGMENTS OF A LOST HOMELAND – REMEMBERING ARMENIA, was the guest at a lunchtime conversation organized by the USC Institute of Armenian Studies. The event took place on September 16 at USC Ground Zero Coffeehouse. Marsoobian was In Conversation with Varun Soni, Dean of Religious Life at USC. The USC Shoah Foundation Center for Advanced Genocide Studies co-sponsored the event.
Marsoobian, a grandchild of genocide survivors, has devoted the past few years of his life to presenting exhibitions in Turkey of a photograph archive collected by his extended family, who were all photographers and thus saved by the Ottoman governors because they were needed. Whereas most Armenian families don’t have a single picture of their families, Marsoobian has hundreds.
“These photographs are a form of bearing witness to the identities of Armenians in the most difficult times of the Armenian Genocide. They document a life and culture that was erased, and about which little is known by the new generation in Turkey,” said Marsoobian.
Once Marsoobian began the process of archiving and exhibiting what was left to him by his family of photographers, it became a personal and emotional journey in addition to an academic one. He spoke about his trips to Anatolia and the importance of walking on the ground, and seeing the exact places that was the birthplace of Armenian culture.
Marsoobian’s family story is one of prosperity, vibrant culture, and sudden loss. During the conversation, he recounted an argument between his grandparents in the summer of 1915. After they lost police protection, the family was forced to choose between joining the death marches with the rest of the exiled or convert and live as Islamized Armenians. They chose the latter, changed their names, and became hidden Armenians.
“As the generation that somehow survived by either voluntarily or involuntarily converting passes on, they are sharing their life secrets with their families. Suddenly, tens of thousands of citizens of Turkey are discovering their Armenian roots. This, in a country, where being Armenian has been reviled. We are headed for a very interesting and difficult period in Armenian-Turkish relations, and Armen Marsoobian’s family treasure helps everyone better understand the past, and perhaps the future,” said Salpi Ghazarian, the director of the USC Institute of Armenian Studies.
Marsoobian will continue to present his exhibitions in Turkey and around the world. He is certain that sharing such photos is important for the small Armenian community remaining in Istanbul and the rest of the Armenians – whether rediscovered, or still hidden.
The full video of the discussion is available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rN0aGtkEEGQ.
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About the Institute
Established in 2005, the USC Institute of Armenian Studies supports multidisciplinary scholarship to re-define, explore and study the complex issues that make up the contemporary Armenian experience – from post-Genocide to the developing Republic of Armenia to the evolving Diaspora. The institute encourages research, publications and public service, and benefits from communication technologies that link together the global academic and Armenian communities.
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For information:
3501 Trousdale Parkway
Mark Taper Hall of Humanities (THH 308)
Los Angeles, CA 90089-4355
213.821.2943
armenian@usc.edu
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