During one of her visits to see her family in Istanbul, the artist Anita Toutikian came across an embroidery done by her grandmother Hripsime Sarkissian (1908– 2000). The embroidery was pretty and colourful, but felt like it was forgotten; like it had no purpose. In the years that followed, Toutikian collected more of her grandmother’s works, which now comprise the artist’s installation, ‘Exbroideries’.
The exhibition is organised within the scope of the centenary of the Armenian genocide. The artist’s grandmother was of Armenian descent and was just a child when the atrocities to her country people occurred. To deal with post-traumatic stress, Sarkissian weaved embroideries. ‘She could not speak about her pain openly, but her fingers could, and she unconsciously weaved her life story into her embroideries,’ says Toutikian. ‘This exhibition is a guided visit into the psychology of my grandmother through her painterly embroideries.’
