Seventh exhibition in the 17th Nidbach series

In his first solo exhibition, “Forty Nights”, Garbian refers to events that took place during the Armenian Genocide. Inspired by anonymous photographs from the years 1915-1918, he presents paintings of seven heads of beheaded Armenian men and women. Garbian separates specific individuals from photographs that show pyramids of heads while next to them soldiers of the Turkish Empire stand filled with pride at their atrocities. The works are hung horizontally, alluding to the usage of enlarged photo ID’s in memorials– A lineup of nameless victims with no identity or historical account of the specific events leading to their murder. Garbian creates a sense of uneasiness by forcing the spectator to view works through a small hole in the wall or through binoculars; and leaves us perplexed, with questions about the nature of commemoration and the construction of memory.