Posts by Jean Bedrosian
Peace—36 x 24 in.
“Rakel released white doves as a symbol of peace in Istanbul, Turkey, January 2007, upon the assassination of her husband, Hrant Dink. He was editor of the Turkish Armenian newspaper, Agos.”
RELATED ARTICLE:
Sep/Oct/Nov/Dec—AMAA News, Paramus, NJ.
AMAA 90th Anniversary Celebration and Annual Meeting Kick-Off: Together We Can Build Miracles Campaign.
“…A special painting by Mrs. Lucy Janjigian was also presented to Mrs. Dink…” View the article.
La Marche des Fantomes
by H. Erdal Yalt
FEATURING: Fading Footsteps from the Uprooted Series.
While travelling in an embassy car, Hayri gets into a traffic accident. The car hits a man, causing him to enter a coma. Hayri is also hospitalized with More…
Published by Lulu.com, 2013; ISBN: 1304282112.
To purchase this book in French.
Glass Pieces—36 x 24 in.
The 33 paintings in this series are the evolution of many years of Bible study and Lucy’s personal experiences
growing up in Jerusalem.
They depict Jesus’s final week on earth; Holy Week, starting with Washing of the Feet on Maunday Thursday,
through Crucifixion, and Resurrection.
This series is in the collection of Dar al-Kalima University for Arts and Culture, Bethlehem, Palestine.
A presentation of Journey to Resurrection is available in DVD format in eight languages; English, Arabic, Armenian, French, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin, and Hindi.
Now, you can stream Journey to Resurrection on YouTube.
The first 19 paintings depict the plight of the Armenian people who were victims of genocide by Ottoman Turks from 1915 to 1918. Most of those that survived were uprooted and forced to flee their homeland of Armenia.
The rest of the 13 paintings depict Universal Genocide because of man’s inhumanity to man.
Please scroll down for Lucy’s introduction to these paintings.
A presentation of Uprooted is available in DVD format in English and Armenian.
Now, you can stream Uprooted on YouTube.
“The 90th anniversary of the 1915 Armenian genocide by the Turks was commemorated by Armenians worldwide in memory of one and a half million massacred, and for the survivors who were sent on death marches from their homes in Turkey. It was the first genocide of the 20th century that became the blue print for Hitler’s holocaust.
This Turkish atrocity took place during WWI, when Turkey, an ally of Germany, undertook this ignominous act. Britain and France were too involved in the war to pay attention to reports by their envoys and missionaries. America ignored Ambassador Henry Morgenthau’s accounts of the carnage. The Young Turk government took advantage of the situation, and executed this genocide against the Armenians.
To this day, Turkey denies that the genocide occurred, despite overwhelming evidence. The massacres began on April 24, 1915, in Constantinople, when 250 Armenian leaders professors and clergy were rounded up and killed. Thousands of poor Armenians were murdered or deported into the desert.
Lucy’s sensitivity regarding the plight of the Uprooted, is a manifestation of her ethnic background, and the experiences of those close to her. Over the years she has heard personal accounts of these massacres, and has attempted to capture these stories and to express them in her art. Ghost like figures portrayed in dramatic colors, on large canvases, enable the viewer to ponder human suffering.
The artist intends these works to touch us intimately, in a visual statement on humanity’s will to endure. Because of Man’s inhumanity to man, many nations have suffered. These works communicate a universal plight, that of the Uprooted.
—Lucy Janjigian on the “Uprooted” Series, April 24, 2005.
The 32 paintings that make up “Biblical Parallels” are the evolutionary result of many years of Bible study.
In these paintings, Lucy illuminates Biblical Parallels between the Old and the New Testaments.
This series is in the collection of Stony Point Conference Center, of the National Presbyterian Church in Stony Point, New York. It is the home of the Community of Living Traditions, a multifaith, residential community of Muslims, Jews and Christians who are committed to radical hospitality and the practice of social and environmental justice in the world.
A presentation of Biblical Parallels is available in DVD format in English.
Now, you can stream Biblical Parallels on YouTube.
Lilies of the Field series was inspired by a poem Lucy’s friend, Verna Smith, wrote while visiting the Golan Heights,
Israel. She saw man-made barbed wire, symbols of war, laced with God’s beautiful lilies of the field.
Lucy added doves or butterflies to symbolize an escape into freedom.
With Verna Smith’s permission, we share with you her poem:
“Lilies of the Field” by Verna G. Smith
I saw the lilies of the field growing in the Golan Heights
Anemones among the tall coils of barbed wire
Incongruous, I thought at the time,
A younger woman caring for those about her.
But now, here I am. Almost 81;
A lily of the field whose Father cares for me,
For I am not the caretaker that I used to be.
Just growing beautiful in the field
This ancient flower
Of wind and breath
Barbed wire of hellish war
All about me.
These 18 paintings represent the trials and sorrows of outcast people—the homeless, the hopeless and the forlorn.
They deal eloquently with real life tragedies.
Lucy tries to bring a glimmer of hope, to shed a little light, in these works.
This series is in the collection of Central Presbyterian Church, Atlanta, GA.
Please scroll down for Lucy’s introduction to these paintings.
“Everyone is touched by the plight of those who are without shelter and the dignity of a place to be, a place that can be called home. These works represent the way an artist responds. I try to create images that reveal human beings keeping their hopes alive by their togetherness, however fragile.
The small, cramped efforts of individuals huddled together calls for our help and yet their power, despite having little choice, can reinforce our own inner strength.
The paintings speak for themselves but you will notice the shopping cart as a ‘mobile home.’ The attempt to keep personal belongings close enhances self identity. The birthday ‘celebration,’ the phone call, the park as a touch of nature, the benefits of ‘soup,’ fire, boxes, even an old car as shelter all keep hope alive. The suffering, especially of children, has to be shown and contrasted with those that have. The card game indicates the spirit of play still breathes within. The players of any game act upon a chance to win.”—Lucy Janjigian on the “Homeless” Series, April 16, 1997.
This painting was commissioned by the Armenian Missionary Association of America, Paramus, NJ.
It was on the occasion of the retirement of The Rev. G.H. Chopourian, PhD, Executive Director
of the AMAA, 1969-1987.
The painting is based on Acts 1:8 (ESV):
“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses
in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
You Shall Be My Witnesses—72 x 48 in.
Acts 1:8
These paintings were commissioned by Haigazian University, Beirut, Lebanon.
