Memory of Trees
29 August 2017Initiative: Vardan Karapetian
Curator: Nairi Khatchadourian
Scientific adviser: Marine Haroyan
Designer: Arsen Kirakosyan
Komitas Museum-Institute presented Kathryn Cook’s “Memory of Trees” photographic exhibition. “Memory of trees” is the result of a long and meticulous period of research on the Armenian Genocide. The artist traveled through Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Armenia, Israel, and France and captured images of places and people who witnessed the Genocide in order to fully understand the magnitude of silence and absence. The heart of Kathryn’s work revolves around the Turkish village of Aghachli. Kurdish residents revived the Armenians’ silk-weaving tradition and even used the same Mulberry trees and cultivated silkworms the way that Armenians had. The photographs of silk cocoons stand as visual poems, symbols of legacy and rebirth.