Under the Stars: Remain in Light

The Fowler Museum invites you to the launch of Remain in Light: Visions of Homeland and Diaspora, edited by Gassia Armenian. This powerful collection brings together photography and poetry that illuminate the contemporary Armenian experience both in the homeland and in Los Angeles, where one of the largest Armenian communities in the world resides.

The book showcases the perspectives of three Los Angeles-based, diaspora-born Armenian photographers—Sossi Madzounian, Ara Mgrdichian, and Ara Oshagan—whose work captures the evolving social fabric of Armenian life, from survival and memory in the homeland to the immigrant experience in the diaspora. Their photographs are paired with evocative poetry by Tina Demirdjian, Arminé Iknadossian, Arthur Kayzakian, Shahé Mankerian, and Raffi Joe Wartanian.This artistic collaboration reflects on Armenian migrations to California, from the late 1800s through waves following the 1915 genocide, Soviet-era displacement, and more recent movement from the Middle East and Iran. Each generation has worked to preserve and reinterpret cultural traditions, language, and identity across new geographies.

Join us for an afternoon of poetry reading and Armenian music, including a premier of a musical interlude of Armenian melodies performed by Garo Hussenjian on his hand pan. Books will be available for purchase and signing for $45. Light refreshments to follow.

Tina Demirdjian has taught poetry in schools, museums, businesses and libraries for more than 30 years in Los Angeles. She is also an artist, culture bearer, arts educators, and founder and co-director of the Armenian Dress & Textile Project. She is the recipient of numerous grants, including the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs and Durfee Foundation. She is the author of IMPRINT, and a contributor to Birthmark: A Bilingual Anthology of Armenian-American Poetry and has published in numerous journals. Demirdjian is a Board Member of the Brand Associates supporting public programming at the Brand Library & Art Center, and is a participant in the art and poetry workshop, ARTful Conversations, also at Brand Gallery.

Garo Hussenjian is a songwriter, composer, and multi-instrumentalist who has been creating music for over 35 years. A graduate of UC Berkeley with degrees in Biophysics and Music Composition, he formed the jazz/funk trio Autoflow in 2003, which continues to perform in Los Angeles. Garo’s musical practice centers on improvisation and emotional connection, with a mission to uplift and inspire. His current work explores Armenian classical music by Komitas and Aram Khachaturian, reinterpreted through the acoustic sound of the handpan. He also works full time as a Software Engineering Manager at Google in Los Angeles.

Armine Iknadossian was born in Beirut, Lebanon. Her family fled to California when she was four years old to escape the civil war. After graduating from UCLA, Iknadossian earned an MFA in Creative Writing at Antioch University while teaching full time. She is the author of All That Wasted Fruit. Her poetry is featured in Five South, HyeBred, Armenian Poetry Project, Whale Road Review, South Florida Poetry Journal, Cultural Weekly, San Diego Reader, The Nervous Breakdown and the American Journal of Poetry. Iknadossian has received fellowships and grants from the Arts Council of Long Beach, Idyllwild Arts, the Los Angeles Writing Project, and Otis College of Art and Design. She participates in Project 1521, which brings together artists, writers, and scholars to generate visual and literary works as acts of resistance. Her other passion project is collaborating with the International Armenian Literary Alliance (IALA) where she serves on the advisory board and volunteers her time for their mentorship program.

Arthur Kayzakian is the winner of the 2021 inaugural Black Lawrence Immigrant Writing Series for his collection, The Book of Redacted Paintings, which was also selected as a finalist for the 2021 Philip Levine Prize for Poetry. He is the recipient of a 2023 creative writing fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts. He is also the winner of the Prairie Schooner Strousse award for poems and winner of the Open Chapbook Competition for his chapbook My Burning City. He serves as the Poetry Chair for the International Armenian Literary Alliance (IALA). His work has appeared in several publications, including The Adroit Journal, Portland Review, Chicago Review, Cincinnati Review, The Southern Review, Michigan Quarterly Review, and Witness Magazine.

Sossi Madzounian was born in Beirut, Lebanon and has been living in Los Angeles since 1968. After studying at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, she enjoyed success as a commercial photographer, before shifting her focus to pursue her primary passion: motherhood. Twenty years later, she returned to her fine art photography roots to capture the essence of “what naturally exists.” Sossi has had numerous solo and group exhibitions throughout the last decade, notably at Multiverse Art Gallery, San Francisco City Hall; DTLA // IRL pop-up in Los Angeles; and Ten Women Gallery in Santa Monica; her next show is forthcoming at the Chania International Photo Festival in Crete, Greece. Madzounian’s work has been featured in publications, such as IPA, LensCulture, Lucie Foundation, APA ‘Off the Clock,’ and Communication Arts. Her photography has featured in set designs of TV shows like Ray Donovan, Bosch, Big Brother, and others. She collaborated with the Smithsonian Institute on their folklore project “My Armenia.” Recently, her photography was used in the “Lily Vorperian Marash Embroidery” publication. Madzounian’s unblemished approach to life is her inspiration and guiding light.

Shahé Mankerian is the principal of St. Gregory Hovsepian School in Pasadena and director of mentorship at the International Armenian Literary Alliance (IALA). He has been the co-director of the Los Angeles Writing Project, and a recipient of the Los Angeles Music Center’s BRAVO Award, which recognizes teachers for innovation in arts education. In 2021, Mankerian’s inaugural poetry collection, History of Forgetfulness, was published by Fly on the Wall Press in the UK. The collection was a semifinalist for the prestigious Khayrallah Prize, and a finalist at the Bibby First Book Competition, the Crab Orchard Poetry Open Competition, the Quercus Review Press Poetry Book Award, and the White Pine Press Poetry Prize.

Ara Oshagan is a diasporic multi-disciplinary artist, curator, and cultural worker based in Los Angeles. Working in photography, film, collage, installation, book arts, public art, and monuments, he explores collective and personal histories of dispossession, legacies of violence, identity, and (un)imagined futures. Oshagan has published three books of photography (a fourth will appear in 2023) and has presented his work at the Annenberg Space for Photography in Los Angeles, International Center of Photography in New York, and TedX Yerevan. He has participated in solo exhibitions in Los Angeles, New York, and South Korea, as well as in multiple group shows. His work has been reviewed and featured in Art Papers, Hyperallergic, Los Angeles Times, LA Weekly, NPR’s Morning Edition, Virginia Quarterly Review, Artillery, Mother Jones, and The Times Literary Supplement, among other publications. Oshagan’s work is held in the permanent collections of Stockton University Gallery, the Southeast Museum of Photography, the Downey Museum of Art, Pasadena Armory Center for the Arts, and the Modern Art Museum of Yerevan, Armenia. Oshagan is a curator at ReflectSpace Gallery in Glendale.

Raffi Joe Wartanian is a writer, musician, and educator who teaches writing at UCLA and serves as the inaugural Poet Laureate for the City of Glendale, California. His writing has appeared in The New York Times, Los Angeles Review of Books, University of Texas Press, No Dear magazine, and elsewhere. As a musician, Raffi has released two original albums: Critical Distance (2019) and Pushkin Street (2013).

This program is presented in partnership with the Promise Armenian Institute