There has been an active discussion under way since yesterday on the fact that famous sculptor Levon Tokmajyan, talking about his sculpture presented at an international symposium on Yerkir Media yesterday, said that it was on the subject of the Genocide, but since a Turkish sculptor was working next to him, he renamed his sculpture from Deportation to Calamity, in order not to spoil relations. www.aravot.am asked the artist to comment on this issue. He stated that it was about the annual exhibition held in Penza, in which he participated every year and confirmed that such a thing had happened. “A Turkish sculptor approached me and said ‘let’s not do politics,’ particularly given the fact that we were working next to each other and were coming and leaving together. All the same, it can be seen that my sculptor is on the subject of the Genocide, because the mother takes the child away to rescue and everyone noticed that this subject was there, I just didn’t wish to name it 1915 and I called it Calamity. I talked to the Turk as a sculptor to another sculptor, we didn’t talk about politics, particularly given the fact that I don’t speak English and couldn’t have that conversation, the Turk, on the other hand, didn’t speak Russian, we would just nod,” Levon Tokmajyan explained.
In response to our question whether he had had anything to fear or to lose, however, if he had raised the issue of the Genocide, the artist said the following, “There is nothing to fear, perhaps, if I had spoken English, we would have sat down in front of each other and talk, it would have been different. I couldn’t bring a translator, after all, could I…? I agreed not to do politics, because there were 30-40 sculptors from around the world, we were not alone. By the way, it is about the symposium that took place the year before last, they were just showing pictures and videos on Yerkir Media yesterday and when they showed the sculpture, I recalled that story and told it.”
Gohar HAKOBYAN
