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https://myumi.ch/r8gD2

For nearly a decade, the art of Oksana Mirzoyan has been exploring the social and cultural experiences of the Nagorno-Karabagh conflict. The territorial engagement, which began in the 1980s and unfolded across Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Nagorno-Karabagh was the catalyst for a sequence of pogroms leveled against Armenians living in major cities of the former Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic, from Sumgait to Kirovabad (Ganja) and in 1990, the capital city of Baku.

The conflict had a massive influence not only on the cultural and political geography of the South Caucasus but continues to shape the everyday experience of people living in the region today as well as generations of displaced Armenians and Azerbaijanis. Among the millions forced to evacuate the region, thousands arrived in the United States, concentrating in urban and suburban communities, including in Detroit and surrounding Southeast Michigan. Born in Baku, Mirzoyan arrived in Detroit with her family as a result of the Nagorno-Karabagh conflict.

Mirzoyan’s research into the war starts with her passport photo as a refugee being granted asylum in the US in 1991. This discussion will include a screening of her short experimental works that use archival family footage (“Baku 1977”) and capture sceneries or people's lives in the city of Shushi (Swallows flying in the city of Shushi; "Barber of Shushi"). Her intimate knowledge of the region comes from her first-hand experience of walking on its minefields with Halo Trust, teaching filmmaking to students in Stepanakert (the capital city of Artsakh), and collecting the stories of its citizens. Much of Mirzoyan's art is an exploration of the filmmaker's personal trauma tied to the conflict in Nagorno-Karabagh/Artsakh and presents a journey of healing her past through her relationship with the country.

Oksana Mirzoyan is an Armenian-American artist focused on narrative filmmaking as a writer, director, and producer. Mirzoyan’s films have screened and been awarded internationally at festivals such as Clermont-Ferrand, Camerimage, and Locarno. Her short film“140 Drams" was an honoree of the Cinematographer’s Guild of America and won Best Short Film at Izmir Film Festival. Mirzoyan is based in Detroit where she is a Kresge Artist Fellow. Her experimental and narrative short films "140 Drams," "Sonnet," and "Susanna" were screened in a solo exhibition at the Detroit Institute of Arts. Currently, she is working on her first feature, "Abysm" which explores the ongoing conflict in Nagorno-Karabagh. The film has won Locarno Film Festival’s Open Doors Prize, along with support from the George Foundation. Mirzoyan has been recently experimenting with sculpture and installation work.

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