My curiosity sits within the phenomenon of time—I’m interested in the perceived memories and imagined stories that arise as I go about my day. I make no distinction between my life and my artistic practice. The two intersect and collide, eventually landing in the place of remembrance through direct experience. This is the crux of my work. I love nothing more than to delve into a world riddled with the ubiquitous questions as to what is real, what is true, and how we come to decide.
Recent shows include the Five Miles Gallery, NY, Teacher’s College at Columbia University, The Brand Art Center and Reflect Space in Glendale, CA, Goethe-Institute in Barcelona Spain, Hessel Museum of Art, NY; Lishui Museum of Photography in China and Blind Dates at Pratt Manhattan Gallery. Awards include a recent Rauschenberg Foundation Emergency Medical Grant (acute myeloid leukemia), LMCC Process Grant at Governor’s Island; Five College Artist / Research Associate, Amherst, MA, CAAP Grant, Chicago, Illinois and the LaNapoule Foundation, Cannes, France.
I hold an MFA from Bard College, NY and a BFA in photography from the University of Colorado-Denver. Currently, I teach and advise students at Transart Institute, a low-residency MFA/Ph.D. program in partnership with LJMU Liverpool, UK. I have taught in graduate and undergraduate programs across the US including Hampshire College, the ICP-Bard MFA program and one-year programs at the International Center of Photography, the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and the New England College of Art MFA program.
EDUCATION
1999 M.F.A. Bard College, Milton Avery School of the Arts, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY
Photography (with a Concentration in Interdisciplinary Installation)
1987 B.F.A. University of Colorado at Denver, Denver, CO
Photography
SELECTED INVITATIONAL EXHIBITIONS, SCREENINGS, and PERFORMANCE
* solo/two-person
2021 the identifying taste of particular waters (2015)
Archival Interventions film screening curated by Bradly Treadaway,
Five Myles Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
2021 Noche Ritual with Nicolás Dumit Estévez Raful Esposa and 20+ creatives
Franklin Furnace Loft, Brooklyn, New York
2021 Silent Listening video work for The Transart (notso) Short Fest in Chapter 3 of 5 Chapters screened over 11 weeks for the
Ely Center of Contemporary Art, New Haven, Connecticut
2021 the identifying taste of particular waters (2015)
Featured video guest, Interior Beauty Salon, Bronx, NY
2020 Artists In Focus Fund (auction)
Baxter Street Gallery at CCNY, NY, NY
2019 Overcast Blue; 365 Days Over Chicago
for the exhibition, Beyond the Instant
Royal Society of American Art, Brooklyn, NY
2019 Counting Pomegranate Seeds
for the exhibition, Our Bodies Ourselves
Ely Center of Contemporary Art, New Haven, CT
2018 Three Interludes for an Unheard Orchestra (soundwork)
for the exhibition, Unleashed
Teachers College at Columbia University, NY, NY
2018 *The Eclipse, an artistic response to the Dildilian Archive
for the exhibition, Continuity and Rupture: An Armenian Family Odyssey,
Brand Library and Art Center, Glendale, CA
2018 The Daybooks of Margaret Jurigian
for the exhibition, Non-Linear Histories: Transgenerational Memory of Trauma
ReflectSpace, Glendale, CA
2015 Utopian Tomorrow, Goethe-Institut, Barcelona, Spain
2015 Translation(s) II: Translating the City
Videotage Unlimited, Kowloon, Hong Kong
2015 Translation(s) II: Translating the City
Art Stays International Art Festival, Ptuj, Slovenia
2015 Auf Mnemosynes Wohl !
Des Gorki Theaters, Berlin, Germany
2014 VAFA International Video Art Festival,
Fundação Oriente, Macau
2014 Open Studios, Governor’s Island
Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, New York, NY
2014 Luminocity
Kamloops Art Gallery, Kamloops, BC, Canada
2013 We took the image and put the sound too loud, Curated by Fawz Kabra
Hessel Museum of Art, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY
2013 Stories in the Social Landscape
International Center of Photography, New York, NY
2012 *Rapid Pulse International Performance Festival
Defibrillator Performance Art Gallery, Chicago, IL
2011 *Nothing to Declare, Curated by Karen Flores
The Blanc Compound, Manila, Philippines
2011 The Not Festival, conceived and produced by Choreographer Luis Malvacias and in association with Movement Research, the Greenspan Center in Williamsburg and
Gallery Galou, Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY
2011 Pictures Are Words-Not-Known, curated by Sean Justice and the International Center of Photography
LiShui Museum of Photography, LiShui, Zhejiang, Province, China
2011 Chain Letter, Curated by Camilo Alvarez
Samson Projects, Boston, MA
2011 *IN/EX/CHANGE, Curated by Lynn Book
for ARTSTAYS 9 International Festival of Contemporary Art, Ptju, Slovenia
2011 *Brief Histories, Co-curated by Fawz Kabra & Isak Berbic
Sharjah University City, Al Bayrouni, Sharjah, UAE
2011 Myself, Curated by Marjorie Vecchio
Sheppard Gallery, University of Nevada Reno, Reno, Nevada
2010 *Blind Dates Project, Co-curated by Neery Melkonian & Defne Ayes
Pratt Manhattan Gallery, New York, NY
2010 *INsideOUT, Curated by Karen Brown
Altgeld Galleries, University of Northern Illinois, Dekalb, IL
2010 *Brick + Mortar International VideoArt Festival, Curated by Loretta Yarlow
Various locations, Greenfield, MA
2010 Shelter, Curated by Victoria Hindley & Nina Goldnagle
1080 Wien Project, Soho in Ottakring, Vienna, Austria
2009 *The Horror Show, Curated by David and Debra Tolchinsky
Northwestern University Film Department
Dorsky Gallery, Long Island City, NY
2009 Rocky Mountain Women’s Institute Retrospective
Redline Gallery, Denver, CO
2009 Transart InstituteWinter Residency Exhibition
Sideshow Gallery, Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY
2009 Sea of Seas
The Slade Research Center, London, UK
2009 *Counting Pomegranate Seeds
Museo Nacional, San Jose, Costa Rica
2008 *ArMAR ARMENIA
Asociacion Cultural Armenia, Buenos Aires, Argentina
2008 Waiting 1 : Underneath the Willow Tree
BVOO Galerie, Linz, Austria
2008 *Cutting Into the Memory Hole
Performance for Sites and Citations of Memory Conference
Hampshire, College, Amherst, MA
2008 *The Horror Show, Curated by David & Debra Tolchinsky Northwestern University Film Department
Chicago City Arts Gallery, Chicago, IL
2007 *Untitled (A Night in Late August 2001) in the exhibition, Unforseen
The University of Massachusetts, Amherst Fine Arts Center, Amherst, MA
2006 Journal Notes, in Faculty Show
Johnson Library Center Main Gallery, Hampshire College, Amherst, MA
2006 *See Me/See You, in Reshaping of The Given Form
Curated by Anja Matwijkiw, Professor of Philosophy, Indiana University,
NW Savannah Center Gallery for Contemporary Art, Gary, IN
2005 *See Me/See You
Bad Dog Gallery, Dekalb, IL
2005 *DoubleBlind in Recent Works by Former Artemisia Members
LIPA Gallery, Chicago, IL
2004 *You said you would be there
LIPA Gallery, Chicago, IL
2002 *Hollows of Man with voice(s) in Arvest2002
Pacific Design Center, Los Angeles, CA
2002 *The Color of Liquid (Installation/Performance)
Artemisia Gallery, Chicago, IL
2002 *voice(s)
Ironton Studios & Gallery, Denver, CO
2002 Hollows of Man in The Inheritance Project
Beacon Street Gallery, Chicago, IL
2001 *voice(s)
Artemisia Gallery, Chicago, IL
2001 Afghani Suicide Boxes, in Size Matters
Artemisia Gallery, Chicago, IL
1999 Listening to White
The Chocolate Factory, Red Hook, NY
1998 Light Reflections (installation/performance) in Storylines, curated by Susan Krane
Sibell-Wolle Gallery, Boulder, CO
1998 Hollows of Man
Lincoln Center, Fort Collins, CO
1998 Three Lamps, Three Chairs, Three Tables (poetry/performance) with Kari Edwards
Edge Gallery, Denver CO
1998 *The Reconstruction of Anna Marie Knaus in On the Edge: Photo Based
Arvada Center for the Arts and Humanities, Arvada, CO
1997 *Barnacles, Bedrock and Bedlam
Artemisia Gallery, Chicago, IL
1996 *Hollows of Man, curated by Carol Keller
Emmanuel Gallery, Denver, CO
1996 Her Face Erased in Southwest96
Museum of Fine Arts, Santa Fe, NM
1995 Hollows of Man
Spencer Gallery, LaNapoule FRANCE
1995 Untitled
Denver Art Museum, Denver, CO
1995 Spoken in Tongues in RMWI Retrospective Exhibition Arvada Center for the Arts and Humanities, Arvada, CO
1994 Reins in 3rd Annual Photo Show
Mackey Gallery, Denver, CO
1994 *Spoken in Tongues
Context Gallery of Art, Denver, CO
1994 Untitled, Invitational Exhibition
Edge, Gallery, Denver, CO
1993 Untitled in Women and Madness-A Social Construction of Identity
Congress Street Gallery, Tucson, AZ
1992 Notes from a Stranger in Colorado Photographers 10x10
Gallery of Contemporary Art, Colorado Springs, CO
1991 *Mortal Passages
Context Gallery of Art, Denver, CO
1991 Untitled
Shwayder Gallery, Denver, CO
1991 Untitled
McConnell Gallery, Denver, CO
1990 Notes from a Stranger
The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ
1990 Untitled in Eleventh Annual Invitational
Colorado Lawyers for the Arts, Denver, CO
1990 Untitled
ArtReach, Inc., Denver, CO
1990 *Notes From A Stranger
Galeria IRUDI Fotografia, Algorta, SPAIN
1990 Notes From a Stranger
Rocky Mountain Women’s Institute, Denver, CO
1989 *Conversations with the Soul
Women’s Studio Workshop, Inskirts Gallery, Rosendale, NY
1989 *Notes from a Stranger
2/C Gallery, Denver, CO
1989 Untitled in Mountain West Biennial
Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art, Logan UT
1989 Untitled
Ginny Williams Gallery, Denver, CO
1989 Untitled
Kyle Belding Gallery, Denver, CO
GRANTS AND FELLOWSHIPS
2023 Rauschenberg Foundation
Rauschenberg Medical Emergency Grant
2014 Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, New York, NY
Governor’s Island, Process Space Residency Grant, August- December
2013 Five Colleges, Incorporated, Amherst, MA
Five College Artist / Research Associate
2004 CAAP Grant, Chicago, IL
Grant recipient – Family Archives: Photographs My Father Took
1998 Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation, New York, NY
Nominated for receipt to participate in the 1999 Biennial Competition
1995 U.S. West, Grant recipient – LaNapoule Foundation, Cannes, FRANCE
Artist Residency Program
1994 U.S. West, Finalist – LaNapoule Foundation, Cannes, FRANCE
Artist Residency Program
1990 Rocky Mountain Women’s Institute, Denver, CO
Associate Fellowship
1989 Anderson Ranch Arts Center, Snowmass Village, CO
Snowmass Land Company Scholarship,.
ARTISTIC CONTRIBUTIONS AND COLLABORATIONS
2021 Four 12s, in visual collaboration with poet, Suzanne Gardinier
March edition of Evergreen Review – Joy Garnett, editor
2019 Reader and virtual presence for Kate Hilliard’s Core Sample: A Creative Practice
for the exhibition, Iron and Granite
Ufer Studios, Berlin, Germany
2013 Cover Art for the book, Káukasos,by Ana Arzoumanian, Ed. Activo Puente
2007 Sound Collaboration for Not a Figment of Imagination by Susan Jahoda
2003 Voice Talent for ‘Dolly’ Animation by Debra Tolchinsky
(nominated for MPSE Golden Reel Award.)
2002 Cover Art for the book, ‘a day in the life of p.’ by kari edwards
Subpress Collective (Honolulu & NY), Small Press Distribution, Berkley, CA.
2001 Director of Photography for ‘Persistence of Sequence’
Video Short by Damien Arakelyan.
1997 Sound Composition for ‘Temple of Water’
Performance by Rossina Calderone at Het Wilde Weten’s Chapel, Rotterdam-Holland.
WRITINGS AND DOCUMENTS
2015 The Daybooks of Margaret Jurigian as told by JM
Printed and bound by Conveyor Arts
2015 Floating Towards Home (or when will the sun set, where will the sun rise)
essay for the book, Adrift by Magda
2014 ELSE Journal
Inaugural Issue 0, October 2014
2013 Chasing Napalm
essay for the exhibition Less Like an Object More Like the Weather CCS Bard
BIBLIOGRAPHY
2021 New Haven Independent, January 5
The Not-So-Short Fest Takes The Long View, Brian Slattery
2015 International Center of Photography Publications Interview, February
On the Value of Curiosity
2015 Mirror-Spectator, April 23
If Winter Comes, Can Spring Be Far Behind? by Muriel Mirak-Weissbach
2011 hetq, November
Redefining Armenian-Turkish Relations via Contemporary Art
2011 Ararat Magazine, February 9
Blind Dates with Our Ottoman Past, by Christopher Atamian
2010 Hyperallergic, June 16
Exploring the Ruptures, Gaps & Erasures of the Ottoman Empire, by Hrag Vartanian
2009 The Horror Show, catalogue essays by Pam Thurschwell, Jeffrey Sconce, Timothy Murray
2009 The Village Voice, August 6
Scares for Intellectuals! by Araceli Cruz
2009 New York Stereoscopic Society, August 30
The Horror Show at The Dorsky Gallery, reviewed by George Higham
2008 artdaily.org, December 27The Horror Show at Chicago City Arts Gallery, Igancio Vilarreal
2008 Kunst in Argentinien, Visuelle Archäologen, January 11Ausstellung “Armar Armenia”
zeigt zeitgenössische armenische Videokunst, reviewed by Von Hanna Jochims
2002 KUVO Radio Jazz, Denver, CO, June 21
Interview with Rodney Franks for Ironton Gallery voice(s) Exhibition, Denver, CO,
2002 The Chicago Tribune, April 26
‘Inheritance’ recalls Armenia deaths, review by Lisa Stein
2002 SHA-ZAM, April 11
Inheritance: Art and Images Beyond a Silent Genocide by Teri Lemon
2002 The Journal Times (Racine, WI), March 7
Art and Politics by Jeff Wilford
2001 Storylines, September
essay by Susan Krane, September.
1998 Daily Times (Boulder, CO), September 4
Narrative Threads by Joe Miller
1998 The Denver Post, September 2
Tales of our Time
1998 Boulder Planet, September 2
Something From Nothing by Jennifer Heath
1998 Westword, February 26
Frames of Reference by Michael Paglia
1996 The Denver Post, December 29
The Colorful Palette of 1996 by Steven Rosen and others (Named Top 10 Denver Art Exhibits for 1996)
1996 The Denver Post, July 18
A Serious Look at Jean Casbarian by Steven Rosen
1995 Nice Matin, November Issue
Des Artistes En Residence
1994 The Denver Post, December 25
Risky Project Can Take a Bow by Steven Rosen
1994 Westword (Denver, CO), April 27
Alternative Viewpoint by Hart Hill
1994 The Rocky Mountain News, January 23
On Art by Mary Chandler
1994 The Denver Post, January 23
Critic's Choice by Steven Rosen
1991 The Denver Post, August 29
Mortal Passages by Steven Rosen
1990 American Cablevision, February 22
The Art Seen
1989 Westword (Denver, CO), April 12
Through a Lens Darkly by Nancy Clegg
APPOINTMENTS AND PRESENTATIONS
2021 Transart Institute, LJMU, Liverpool, England
Compassion and Social Justice: A conversation with Zeerak Ahmed, Sonia E Barrett,
Eto Ottigbe, Konjit Seyoum
Organized by Jean Marie Casbarian and mediated by Nicolás Dumit Estévaz Raful Espejo
2021 Transart Institute, LJMU, Liverpool, England
Artist Talk Memory As Practice
2020 University of Massachusetts, Boston, MA
Artist Talk Memory As Practice
2020 Art In General, Brooklyn NY
Artist talk Notes from the Inside: The Fusion of an Artistic Practice and a Teaching Life
for Transart Institute, Berlin, Germany
2018 JH artist lecture, barely here / almost there
with Nada Shalaby for Linda Ganjian and Queens Council on the Arts
Jackson Heights, NY
2017 Transart Institute, Berlin, Germany
Developed, organized and moderated the panel From Artist to Transartist
with guest artists Nathalie Anguezomo Mba Bikoro, Anna Faroqhi, and Susanne Martin
2017 Flaherty Seminar NYC / Anthology Film Archives
Moderator for the panel Kinesthetic History with Monica Saviron, Dominique and Dan Angeloro
(Soda Jerk) and Luis Pares for Ruth Somalo (programmer)
2016 TransCultural Exchange Conference, Boston, MA
2015 ICP-Bard Symposium, New York, NY
After the Fact, Moderator for panel with T. Nikki Cesare Schotzko, Milagros de la Torre,
Nona Faustine and Alex Fialho
2009 Institute of International Education, New York, NY
2012 Fulbright-Hays Program, Committee Member,
Sculpture/Installation Art review board / 3-year post
2011 Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, Illinois
Visiting Artist Presentation & Workshop, Naming the Invisible or the ArtLab, Graduate School of Art
2011 Smith College, Northampton, MA
Visiting Artist Public Lecture
2010 Alwan For The Arts, New York, New York
Artist Presentation & Paper (under)Mining the Landscape: Reimagining the Near East
Relief Archives, read by Nancy Agabian (in my absence) for the panel discussion,
Haunting (hi)Stories
2010 Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island
Artist Presentation & Paper, Public Memory/Private Memory-Sifting through the Invisible
For the forum, Becoming a Diasporic Cluster
Arts in the One World 2010, Home: Composing the Rooted Local in the Rapid Global Environment
2008 Columbia University, New York, NY
Artist Presentation/Panel for the forum, Speaking Beyond Living Room Walls:
The Armenian Diaspora and its Discontents
Organized by Critic/Curator, Neery Melkonian
2007 Transart Institute, New York, NY
Artist talk at Point B, Brooklyn, NY
2007 University of Massachusetts, Amherst Fine Arts Center, Amherst, MA
In Conversation with Susan Jahoda and Jenny Perlin
2007 Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI
Graduate Student Critique, Photography
2006 University of Indiana NW, Gary, IN
An Artist’s Perspective of the Body, Public Lecture
2006 Society of Photographic Education, Chicago, IL
Portfolio Reviewer for the School of the Art Institute of Chicago
2005 University of Northern Illinois, Dekalb, IL
Graduate critiques, Painting and Drawing
2002 University of Northern Illinois, Dekalb, IL
Graduate critiques, Performance
1999 University of Colorado at Denver, Denver, CO
Senior Thesis Review / Guest
1999 University of Colorado at Denver, Denver, CO
Theater Department Public Lectures with Gregory Walker
1998 University of Colorado at Boulder, Boulder, CO
Public Lecture
1998 Denver University, Denver, CO
Public Lecture, Sculpture Department, Denver, CO1998
1998 Arvada Center for the Arts & Humanities, Arvada, CO
Public lecture
GALLERY/CURATORIAL PROJECTS
2020-2021 Ely Center of Contemporary Art, New Haven, CT
The (Notso) Short Fest, Curator
5-hour video festival over 11-weeks, virtual studio visits and roundtable talks
2017 Rita K. Hillman Gallery, International Center of Photography, New York, NY
Flēan, Co-Curator with Ben Gest
2007 Jerome Liebling Center for Film & Photography, Amherst, MA
Thinking the Multiple, Curator
2000-2003 Artemisia Gallery, Chicago, IL
Member, Public Relations Chair, Archivist
1990-1991 Context Gallery of Art, Denver, CO
Co-Founder, Co-Director
1987 2/C Gallery, Denver, CO
Exhibition exchange with Basque photographers Algorta, SPAIN, Curator
1986-1989 2/C Gallery, Denver, CO
Co-Founder, Second Presiding Officer, Public Relations Chair
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
2021-2022 Hampshire College, Amherst, MA
Visiting Assistant Professor, Photography
2020-Present Transart Institute/Liverpool John Moores University (UK) partner, Liverpool/New York
Faculty & Graduate Advisor for Low-Residency Ph.D. Program
2009-2021 ICP-Bard MFA Program in Advanced Photographic Studies, NY, NY
Faculty & Advisor
2009-2022 International Center of Photography, Creative Practices Program, NY, NY
Faculty
2017- International Center of Photography, Documentary Program, NY, NY
Faculty
2007-2020 Transart Institute/Plymouth University (UK) partner, Berlin, Germany/New York
Faculty & Graduate Advisor for Low-Residency MFA Program
2011 University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA
Lecturer, Photography
2006-2009 Hampshire College, Amherst, MA
Visiting Assistant Professor, Film and Photography
2002-2006 The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL
Adjunct Assistant Professor of Photography
2000-2006 City Colleges of Chicago, Wright College, Chicago, IL
Adjunct Professor of Photography
1998-2000 University of Colorado at Denver, Denver, CO
Adjunct Professor of Photography
COMMUNITY-BASED ARTIST-IN-RESIDENCE
2001-2002 Art Resources In Teaching, Chicago, IL
2000-2001 Marwen Foundation, Chicago, IL
Interchurch Refugee & Immigration Ministries, Chicago, IL
1990-2000 ArtReach, Inc., Denver, CO
1996-1997 Refugee Mental Health Access Project / Victims of Torture, Denver, CO
1994-1999 Colorado Center for the Blind / Department of Social Services, Denver, CO
COMMITTEES & PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS
Baxter Street Art Advisory Committee, Baxter Street at CCNY, NY, NY
Board Member, Transart Institute, Berlin/New York