Mekhitar Garabedian
Library (Mesrob)
2006
€500,00
Ink and marker on paper
40 × 30 cm
Edition of 25 copies, signed and numbered by the artist
This edition comes with a copy of Mekhitar Garabedian's publication Happy When It Rains.
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over dit werk
Library (Mesrob), 2006 combines an image of (Saint) Mesrob Mashtots, the inventor of the Armenian alphabet with a page from Arnold Toynbee’s Armenian Atrocities, The Murder of a Nation (published in 1915), of which all the lines but one have been erased with a black marker by the artist. Library (Mesrob), 2006 brings together the themes of language in diaspora and that of hauntology, the presence of unresolved histories in the present.
over Mekhitar Garabedian
Mekhitar Garabedian’s work explores identity through the lens of migration, displacement, and cultural hybridity. Deploying diverse media such as drawing, video, photography, and installations, many of his works draw from his experience as an immigrant and play on the poetic qualities he finds between languages, cultures, and histories. Just as his personal diasporic history is layered, his work resonates with a multiplicity of references to literature, music, philosophy, and visual arts. Through these references, he constructs a complex narrative on identity—one that is fluid, evolving, and shaped by both personal memory and collective heritage.
Born in Aleppo (Syria) into an Armenian family that had already experienced displacement due to the Armenian genocide, Garabedian later migrated to Belgium with his parents. This movement between geographies and histories informs his practice, as he navigates themes of belonging, nostalgia, and the fragmented nature of cultural identity. His work often incorporates the Armenian language, historical photographs, and written texts, using them as tools to both preserve and reinterpret a past that is simultaneously personal and collective. In doing so, he highlights the ways in which identity is not singular or fixed but rather a constant negotiation between inherited traditions and contemporary realities.
Garabedian’s work also engages with broader questions of cultural translation and adaptation. By layering personal narratives with philosophical and artistic references, he challenges fixed notions of origin and belonging. His approach reflects the experience of the diaspora—one where home is not a singular place but a constellation of memories, languages, and influences. Through his art, Garabedian creates spaces where multiple identities can coexist, offering a reflection on how history, displacement, and creativity intertwine in the ongoing process of self-definition.
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