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Our latest podcast series, Treasures From The Library, launches with our very own librarian Gagik Stepan-Sarkissian exploring Hrachya Acharian’s handwritten first edition etymological dictionary that came into our collection as part of Charles Dowsett’s library.
You can listen to our podcast on our website, as well as on all major streaming platforms:
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In our debut episode of Treasures From The Library, our very own librarian Gagik Stepan-Sarkissian details the history, contents and current relevance of Hrachia Acharian's etymological dictionary, hand-written in the early twentieth century after decades of studying the roots of Armenian words and compiling an ever-growing list.
Mischa Kudian, writer, translator, painter and dentist, specialised in English renderings of choice pieces from Armenian literature for which he set up the imprint Mashtots Press in the early 1970s. For over 20 years Kudian published his own retellings and translations of Armenian folk tales and the national epic David of Sassoun, as well as translations from Gregory of Narek (10 th century), an anthology of Soviet Armenian poetry and selected works from Hovannes Toumanian, Avetik Issahakian, Hagop Baronian and Shahan Shahnour. His translation of Vahan Totovents’s Scenes from an Armenian Childhood was an outstanding literary success. After Kudian’s death in 1997, the imprint fell into abeyance and the Armenian Institute is pleased to announce that it has now acquired the imprint and all its associated rights from Mischa Kudian’s heirs.
Today we celebrate the birthday of Leon Surmelian, born in 1905 in Trabzon. His book, I Ask You Ladies and Gentlemen is his personal tale of deep sorrow and profound gratitude, of terrible loss and a lively embrace of life itself. It was a best-seller when first published in 1945, internationally acclaimed and translated into many languages.
The Armenian Institute, convinced of its relevance today, has brought out a new edition for a new generation. With added photographs, a map, glossary and historical context, Surmelian’s memoir of his own experiences of surviving genocide and migrating to find shelter is a story that resonates strongly today for many people --- including today in heartbreaking ways, in Nagorno-Karabakh.
Surmelian’s book is also a reminder of how we rebuild, how we connect with the people and the new countries where we settle but remain deeply attached to our history and to our ancestral territory. This book is both unsettling and a solace, sad and humorous --- a book for all ages and all times. I Ask You, Ladies and Gentlemen is a witness to the sad news that little has changed, neither in the treatment of former neighbours as non-humans nor in the desperate courage and instinctive intelligence shown by the survivors searching for a new life. I Ask You, Ladies and Gentlemen is a book for today and a testimony to the humanity of survivors and the righteous who help them along the way.
The results of a major research on public opinion in Diaspora communities will be formally launched at an online event on 5 September.
The Armenian Diaspora Survey (ADS)—the first of a three-year study project—was held in four communities in 2019: Argentina, Lebanon, Canada (Montreal) and Romania. The fieldwork took place between September and December 2019, 3000 Armenians took part in the study.
ADS is funded by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation and is carried out by a team of experts under the auspices of the Armenian Institute in London.
“The Armenian Diaspora Survey is an attempt to study the opinions of Armenians living in various communities around the world and aims to explore the ‘ingredients’ of being Armenian in the 21st century,” said ADS director Dr. Hratch Tchilingirian of University of Oxford.
The research provides a snapshot of the contemporary Diaspora by studying public opinions on identity, language and culture, community engagement, and relations with Armenia.
“We are pleased that this multi-country systematic survey of the Diaspora has been done with extensive fieldwork and large participation,” said Dr. Razmik Panossian, Director of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation’s Armenian Communities Department. “I thank all the people who were involved with and supported this research project,” he added.
The 175-page full results of the 2019 study will be available for downloading for free from the ADS website: www.armeniandiasporasurvey.com.
The launch will be live streamed on Saturday, 5 September 2020 at 15:00h London time (Beirut & Bucharest 21:00h; Yerevan 18:00h; Buenos Aires 10:00h; Montreal & New York 10:00h; Los Angeles 07:00h) on www.facebook.com/armsurvey and Youtube: shorturl.at/dzY47.
The Armenian Institute has joined with Armenian Community Emergency Management Committee, along with most other UK Armenian organisations, to coordinate fundraising for relief and rebuilding in Lebanon. We urge our friends to support this cause, reaching out to the Armenian communities there but also to the now fragile state of Lebanon. To read more about the combined community effort, please click here. To support this important project, please click here.
A Virtuoso of the Unconscious
Arshak was a little boy sitting in a classroom in Gyumri, Armenia when he suddenly heard the crash of windows, desks hurled across the room, roofs collapsing, children screaming. He dashed into the howling streets. As he entered home he saw the floors covered with honey from the cracked jars.
That massive earthquake and the rupture with normal life – he would never return to his home again - is always present in his work. The whole nation pitched high on the Richter scale of emotion, struggling with catastrophe, hunger and war. His father, Ararat Sarkissian, one of the most revered artists in Yerevan, was a hard taskmaster teaching the boy to draw, etch and print like an old master. He sent Arshak out to draw when there was scarcely a street light in the city: the old wooden houses of the city, characters seen by night whose inner lives seemed as fantastic as a winged bird or a man with two faces.
Arshak can make the unreal seem ordinary and the ordinary seem unreal. He watches with a keen impartial eye dipping in and out of the material world. He is a virtuoso of the unconscious. He draws his people, often glaring at us with a baleful eye, groups them as if on stage, in lines or cavorting around each other fully conscious. Their world is set up to be gazed at. They know they are being watched. But can we be sure? Perhaps we, the viewers, are on stage in their theatre. His characters, such as the ageing ballerina have become so familiar to him that he must sculpt her, cast her in bronze, and bring her into another reality.
The world is topsy turvy, a woman lies under a birdcage full of chickens, an adult is being wheeled feet up in a baby carriage, a suited man prances with a rooster’s head over is face. The Bosch-like chaos of intertwining figures, animals, fruit, rolls of paper, fans, benches, trees, reminds me of the apocalyptic visions of heaven and hell. I have seen the spirit of Arshak Sarkissian in the mediaeval Armenian churches of Isfahan, Damascus and Jerusalem, in the tortures of Christ and the saints by the fresco masters. His forms and patterns pulsate with the positive-negative energy of Armenian carpets and miniatures. His rich colour palette could only be organic, never synthetic. The deep purples and apricots of Armenian mountain ranges and gorges, their inside-out, upside-down volcanic rock contortions rumble through Arshak’s visions. The humans cling together, each sealed in his bubble, yet they need one another with a desperation that is empathized by an artist still only in his thirties. Arshak’s brush is robust and his colour palette poignantly discriminating. He rapidly captures a portrait and tosses it into a composition which beguiles the eye and yet always escapes over-definition.
I have watched Arshak Sarkissian in my studio in London paint canvases and on my walls, and sculpt for hours without interruption, just as he dances, laughing and whirling, without stopping for a breath or a drink, feeding off the frenzy of his own energy. This same torrent of talent drives him on to orchestrate the visible and invisible worlds, with the death-defying resilience of his people, the Armenians, who have been close to extinction, yet dance and shout their love of life on his titanic canvases.
© Nouritza Matossian, 6 December 2019
Excerpt from 2019 interview with Sona Hamalian (Yerevan)
The heroes of my canvases are manifestations of biological and anatomical transformation and are open to all instincts, including animal bones. My characters — or, rather, personalities, as I like to call them — merge within them entire spectrums of emotion and identity, ultimately presenting the archaic as a possible utopia. Also, all objects that appear in my paintings — whether they be animals, plants, or various objects, such as shoes — have equal status, and are treated as animate beings endowed with intellect. In this sense, my works hearken to the Middle Ages, when people believed in the existence of monsters, hybrids of human and animal, which intimated a real connection between man and nature. I think it’s precisely this connection, the melding of man and nature, of consciousness and instincts, which is lacking in modern life. You can see this connection in the works of Hieronymus Bosch, for instance. It’s about a “transgression” that might lead to the development of a genuinely free society. In short, I try to depict certain human aptitudes, possibilities, and functions that have yet to be revealed in earnest or have been lost in the tide of history. Arshak Sarkissian
As part of our Diaspora Forum series, the Armenian Institute hosted a lively panel discussion on June 17, led by Tatiana Der Avedissian. The panel included 4 young people with diverse backgrounds: Vahe Asatryan, studying in the UK, born in the Czech Republic to parents from Armenia, Anoushka Berberian, born in Britain of Cypriot and Lebanese Armenian heritage, Hovsep Markarian, born in Syria now living in Armenia with university degrees in the UK, and Noemi Stepan-Sarkissian, born in Britain to Armenian-Iranian parents. The four were questioned about their thoughts on how it feels to be Armenian in the contemporary world, what is important to them, what troubles them, how they picture the terms “diaspora” and “home” and how important these concepts are.
Given their varied heritage and personalities, there was considerable agreement between the speakers as they pointed to traditional markers of "Armenian-ness" such as food, language and the church but also felt their generation is more inclusive of people who are neither religious nor Armenian speakers. They intended to continue visiting Armenia and were excited to be in a country where Armenian was spoken all around them. Most would not live there permanently, as they felt they could engage with the country and the people in other ways.
The Armenian Institute is delighted to announce the appointment of Tatevik Ayvazyan as the new Director, replacing Dr. Susan Pattie, a founding member and former Director. Tatevik is well-known to AI friends as she has been working as Programme Coordinator and Social Media Manager since November 2019.
Born in Yerevan, Tatevik has lived in the UK over 20 years, working in film, website development, programme management, and digital marketing. With two post-graduate degrees (University of Kent, Catholic University of Leuven), Tatevik comes not only with practical experience but a broad education, as well as extensive background in Armenian literature, history and the arts. Her particular passion is Armenian poetry which she is eager to bring to a wider public as well as continuing with her own translations of both East and West Armenian verse.
We feel very fortunate to have Tatevik at our helm as we move through important transitions, into a new physical space as well as into an exciting future of new programmes, courses and events. We will provide opportunities for everyone to meet Tatevik virtually as we truly look forward to the day when we can all meet together in real space in our new home. Please join us in welcoming Tato to her new position at AI.
She will commence her new position on 1 July and Dr. Susan Pattie will take up the position of Interim Programme Manager.
Exciting news! On June 1, we began moving all our books to our new space on Saffron Hill. The new mobile shelves are in place and stacked with the books. We are gradually setting up to be ready for the day when lockdown is lifted enough that volunteers can come and help us to properly arrange and catalogue the library and archives. And in the perhaps slightly more distant future, when we can once more meet with all our friends in person there.
We sincerely thank the Tanielian family who are making this special place available for the Armenian Institute to provide services and events for the community, researchers, artists and others. It has been a goal for many years and we now look forward to growing and exploring new connections and possibilities.
We are very grateful to our volunteers who continued to see us through the waiting period – and top of that list must be AI trustee Richard Anooshian, who acted as our moral support and link with the construction team, and Keyvan Lankarani, our architect, who provided us with a steady stream of drawings and professional advice indicating new possibilities all along the way. Both Richard and Keyvan have been patient and steady throughout and are greatly appreciated.
A huge thank you to all our donors who are making the move possible. As everyone knows, there are daily expenses in any new space and the generosity of our donors makes it possible to stretch to the large costs while taking care of all the small ones mounting up.
Please note we are no longer at the Nevarte Gulbenkian Hall and we will send out a big SHOUT when it is possible to visit us at Saffron Hill. Meanwhile, our activities continue online and we look forward to seeing you all there.
Images: Mark Zudini
Our online events, gathering popularity since March, have created a platform to talk about important cultural issues, discuss arts, films and books, but this Saturday was very different. Some 50 households gathered in our cosy Zoom-kitchen to learn how to make Manti with Nouritza Matossian. There was also a parallel demonstration by Tatiana der Avedissian for a gluten-free version.
It felt like we were around a big table, chatting, laughing, comparing our balls of dough and sharing memories. Lots of people remembered making Manti with parents or grandparents and to some of the participants it was a completely new dish. It was also interesting to observe the varieties of Manti - we had a Japanese version with a twist of ginger and garlic, some people were working on gluten-free versions with buckwheat flour, and vegetarian options with feta and spinach or lentil fillings. One of the most endearing sights of the event was seeing children learning to cook alongside their parents.
When everyone’s Manti was ready and we returned to eat together on zoom, it was great to sit together, united in a digital space, raising a glass of wine and enjoying delicious food.
We are grateful to Nouritza Matossian and Tatiana der Avedissian for their clear and entertaining presentation and to everyone else who took part and contributed their photos afterwards.
All of our beautiful Manti.
Thanks to Zoom and modern technologies, we gathered our community for a Genocide Commemoration evening on 24 April.
Even in the darkest days of our history, our poets, writers and artists sang of the immortality and universality of art and another, more beautiful world where everyone lived in harmony. In our gathering, we read and remembered the rich and vibrant language of poets and writers, the colours of our artists and the sounds of Armenian music, making them come alive. Our wonderful poetry readers and singers shared a selection of poems, readings, art and music for some 70 people, joining us from all over the globe, from Toronto to Istanbul, from London to Yerevan.
We are very grateful to our Chair Becky Jinks for starting the evening with a reading of the UN Genocide Convention text, poetry readers Arda Eghiayan, Yegya Akgun, Sylvie Howse, Susan Pattie, Tatevik Ayvazyan, Noemi Stepan-Sarkissian, Gagik Stepan-Sarkissian, Shakeh Major Tchilingirian, Stephen Masters and singers Noemie du Cimetiere and Virginia Kerovpyan for making the evening so memorable.
Here we share our programme brochure of poetry and art for you to enjoy. You can download and read it here.
Our second Salon Zoom-session was Treasured Objects, where we asked people to bring an object to show, sharing the story behind it. The treasures were surprising, wonderful and the stories so moving that we want to share them. This is the first group and more will follow. This Zoom-version of Treasured Objects has grown from the idea for our original exhibition and book by the same name at the Brunei Gallery, SOAS (2010) which accompanied the postcard exhibition by Osman Koker, “My Dear Brother, Armenians in Turkey 100 Years Ago”, also organized by the Armenian Institute.
In 1978 I came aged 16 to the UK with my family due to the impending Islamic Revolution in Iran. We sold everything and left Iran with a few suitcases of clothes and family photos. We also left all my extended family and crucially, my grandparents.
I missed my grandmother most of all and was terribly homesick. When some months later, she came to visit us for the first time, she asked if there was anything I wanted from home. Could I have the beautiful figurine of an Armenian lady from her mantlepiece?
It was fine china as I recalled, a slender figure with a pot balanced on one shoulder, in traditional costume with hair braided. My grandmother arrived to stay for 3 months. She opened her suitcase and I waited with baited breath. She flourished a figurine. But not the one I had in my mind's eye. This one was lumpy, heavy and crude. To some eyes, it could have been a masterpiece, made by Picasso, but not to mine. I hid my disappointment so as not to hurt her feelings.
I have grown to appreciate and love her, my 'Parskahay Frida', and she makes me smile when I look at her on my mantlepiece, everyday.
Karen Babayan, Artist
Taken in 1932, this is the oldest remaining photo we have as a family . It was one of the few items my Grandmother Luysapear Berberian managed to take out of their home when escaping the approaching Turkish troops in the invasion of Cyprus in 1974. It’s a special photo because it has 3 generations of the family together whilst holidaying in Platres, in the mountains of Cyprus, where they used to go every summer. We know the age of the picture because my dad is the chubby blond baby on the right. My Grandmother lost all her photos and family mementos in the genocide period so while the photographs in Cyprus were lost in the invasion, we are grateful that she was able to save this photo for all of us to cherish today.
Garo Berberian, Filmmaker
Our family was touring western Iran in the late 1960s when our car developed a mechanical fault just before reaching the city of Hamadan, the Ecbatana of the ancients. We stopped at a village, next to the workshop of a local potter. While we were waiting for my father to identify the fault and fix it - we knew he could do it - the potter, an elderly man, approached us and addressing me, asked if I would like to buy something from him. I chose this cup. It was sitting on my desk in Teheran and is now sitting on my desk in Ruislip. It is one of the few personal things that came with me to this country. For me it is not just a cup, but a repository of memories and images from a bygone age.
Gagik Stepan-Sarkissian, AI Librarian and Research Advisor
This Soviet-made watch belonged to my grandmother, whose parents came to Samsun from Kavala as part of the Turkish-Greek population exchange of 1923. This is one of the few objects that has travelled with me to London since I left my hometown of Samsun. My grandmother helped raise me and I lived with her until I went to university. I could not say goodbye to her or go to her funeral after she died with dementia, leaving this world with her youngest memories... When I entered her room after the funeral, I took this watch because I knew how much she loved wearing a watch, even though she did not know how to tell the time. Since then, this object acts as a reminder of her, not time. It is a treasured comfort of her memory, even her absence still tingles in my heart.
Şahika Erkonan, PhD Candidate
I began taking piano lessons at the ripe old age of 10 when my family moved to Cyprus for 2 years. My teacher was wonderful but soon moved to London. Getting rid of her unneeded household items, she sold my mother a mangal which had served as the family hearth and gathering place through many winters. She knew they wouldn’t need it in London. My mother knew it wasn’t needed in the U.S. but thought it was a beautiful memento of our stay in Cyprus. It sat beside the fireplace for years.
Back in London, my teacher’s son missed the mangal and the memories. Long-story-short – when he and I eventually met and later married, we brought the mangal to London where it sits by our fireplace. We love it.
Susan Pattie, AI Director
Following a flood at the Armenian Institute space in November 2014, our book and archive collections were sent for safe storage until such time that the Institute was able to move to new, more spacious, premises. The Tanielian benefaction and contributions by major donors turned that dream into reality. But for COVID-19 we would have been in our new premises this month organising events and house-warming Welcome Parties for April and beyond.
Before the flood, our ever-increasing collections occupied all 163 linear metres of shelving at the Kensington space. Now, thanks to a generous grant from the Armenian Communities Department of Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, a brand-new mobile shelving system has been installed at our Saffron Hill premises – the day before the current lockdown came into effect.
The new system, together with the fixed bookcases, will provide 100 linear metres additional shelving space for our growing collection. We are very excited about this new facility and wanted to share the news with you by including images of our new mobile shelving. We cannot wait to see these units filled with books, once again available to researchers and the general public after a long period of dormancy.
To comply with the latest rules on the coronavirus lockdown, we have now closed our online bookshop. We are sorry to disappoint you if you were going to place an order, but our staff is working remotely now and unable to ship any orders.
However, there are a number of excellent digital Armenian resources you can check out, such as Հայ մատենագրութեան թուանշային գրադարան's extensive library here or Wikisource / Վիքիդարան here.
And of course, we are working and online and if you have any questions - get in touch with us!
Testing Zoom with our own master of IT - Stephen Masters
While most of the country is self-isolating and trying to stay safe, we are doing the same but we are also working very hard behind the scenes, holding daily meetings and constantly in touch with the trustees and our Advisory Committee.
We are developing a plan to bring our events online and more varied content on the website, so stay tuned for some exciting news and updates.
As always, you can get in touch with us via email or social media channels.
We want to give a huge thank you to Belinda Keheyan as she ends her 6 year term as trustee, having truly given generously of her time and talents throughout. Fortunately, Belinda will stay with us on the Advisory Board so she is not going far! Her place is taken by the Tatiana Der Avedissian whom we welcome very warmly!
Recently Ani King Underwood also stepped down when her term ended, this being her second time of serving as she was one of the founding "parents" of AI back in 2001. Ani also continues on the Advisory Committee and has been replaced by the multi-talented Stephen Masters whom we also give a very hearty welcome.
Tatiana and Stephen will be joining our chair Dr. Rebecca Jinks, and trustees Arda Eghiayan and Richard Mourad Anooshian.
