ABSTRACT
The visual engagement of contemporary artists with issues pertaining to the Genocide points to the integral impact of the event on the contemporary identities of Armenians. The artists' visual testimonies are the memorials for the Armenian Genocide, recalling what occurred and simultaneously working out their identities and finally their roles as witnesses. The artists employ several stylistic strategies in their visual constructions of testimony, including the incorporation of text, references to the body, use of fragmented forms, a mixed-media technique, and viewer participation. Through key stylistic features—text, body, fragments, mixed-media, and the viewer—the works of these contemporary Los Angeles-based artists not only authenticate the Genocide, but also explore its enduring impact on their post-genocide diasporic lives and identities. Los Angeles serves as an ideal site of investigation because it is one of the largest centers of diasporan Armenians outside the Republic of Armenia, and burgeoning daily.
