Anchored in Time

Details: Oil on Canvas, 36 x 48 inches

Year: 2021

Two brothers sit in a formal living room. One holds a disposable mask in his hands. Half of the canvas is covered in a richly adorned Armenian carpet. The carpet is a significant feature in Armenian diasporic homes, it represents a small piece of the “homeland” upon which we can live, no matter where they are in the world. While the surroundings and the carpet could place this scene in a diasporic home at various points in time, the mask in the hands of the brother on the left pinpoints a very specific moment in history: during the height of the COVID pandemic. The carpet—and the culture that grounds the brothers—will remain steadfast in the face of whatever life throws at them.