Ararat-Eskijian Museum And Agrp Host Exhibition And Lecture On The Visual Culture Of Armenian Genocide Commemoration

‍The Ararat-Eskijian Museum (AEM) and the Armenian Genocide Research Program (AGRP) of the Promise Armenian Institute (PAI) at UCLA organized a collaborative exhibition and lecture on Sunday, April 12, 2026, at 4:00 PM (PT) at the AEM Sheen Chapel. Representing the Diocesan Primate at the exhibition was the Rev. Fr. Yeghia Isayan.

The program, titled, “’We Will Raise Monuments in Our Hearts’: The Making of Armenian Genocide Commemoration,” and organized through the joint efforts of AGRP Director Taner Akçam and AEM Director Marguerite Mangassarian Goschin, explored the visual culture of remembrance surrounding the Armenian Genocide.

The exhibition featured a recently acquired collection of commemorative posters from around the world, representing various years and perspectives of remembrance. These rare materials offer valuable insight into how Armenian communities have memorialized the Armenian Genocide across time and geography.

Dr. Gevorg Vardanyan, a Postdoctoral Fellow at UCLA, delivered a lecture on the history of Armenian Genocide commemoration. Drawing on original research, the talk reexamines the emergence and evolution of commemorative practices from the Hamidian Massacres to the fiftieth anniversary of the genocide and offers a new interpretation of the development of Armenian commemorative culture.