Anchored in Time
Oil On Canvas, 36 x 48 inches, 2021.
Where memory lives beneath our feet, and time settles in the hands we forget to notice.
Two brothers sit in a formal living room—still, contemplative, seemingly caught in a timeless moment. One of them holds a disposable mask. The scene could, at first glance, belong to many decades in a diasporic Armenian household. The richly adorned carpet stretches across the bottom half of the canvas, grounding the image in a material culture passed through generations. These carpets are more than decorative—they are heritage, symbols of survival, and visual anchors of identity for those of us who come from families marked by displacement.
Yet time quietly enters the scene. The mask in the hand of the brother on the left points us unmistakably to a specific historical rupture: the COVID-19 pandemic. That subtle detail breaks the illusion of timelessness and places this quiet domestic moment firmly within a global crisis, underscoring how private lives and collective events intertwine.
The painting, like much of my Family Archiving series, transforms personal memory into something monumental. It captures how tradition remains stable—even sacred—while life continues to move forward, sometimes through grief, isolation, and uncertainty. The carpet under their feet becomes a metaphor for inherited culture: always present, woven from generations of meaning, and capable of withstanding whatever storms arise.
This work is a visual archive of endurance. A quiet declaration that even amidst change, we remain anchored—in time, in love, and in where we come from.
October 2024
VAV Gallery, Montreal, Qc
A group exhibition exploring themes of dislocation, identity, and memory. Featuring works by seven artists, including three pieces by Marie Khediguian (Anchored in Time, Alexandria, Egypt, 1950s, andBearing Witness), the show examined displacement as both isolating and transformative. Curated by Emitees Tajdari, the exhibition invited reflections on survival, heritage, and belonging. An artist talk led by India-Lynn, as part of the IUNGO Talks program, deepened the dialogue on personal and collective narratives.