The Armenian Weekly. DEARBORN, Mich.—Kristin Anahit Cass is a Chicago-based artist working in photography, video, writing, sculpture and other media. Her art explores the intensely personal spaces where our lives intersect, considering underlying questions of social justice and human rights. As an artist of mixed ethnicity and a descendent of genocide survivors, Cass’ work reflects her passion for amplifying diverse voices telling stories that inspire change. In addition to her arts education, her career as a lawyer gives her a unique perspective on the injustices that so many people and communities face every day. Cass is a graduate of the University of Chicago.
Starting December 14, 2020, the Stamelos Gallery at the University of Michigan-Dearborn will be permanently hosting the following digital photography exhibitions of Cass’ work in Nagorno-Karabakh and the Armenian region of Tavush.
The New Freedom Fighters: Women and Nonviolent Resistance project explores the often unrecognized role that women play in the survival and evolution of cultures and communities. The women profiled in this project live every day under military threat and use different types of nonviolent resistance to defend their human rights and mitigate the consequences of war in their communities. The lives of the women you meet here have been irrevocably shaped by war. Despite feeling the effects of the violence on their homes, families, career prospects and communities, these women understand the need for creative nonviolence to break the cycle of war and intolerance.
Borderlands Under Fire exposes the world of a frozen conflict and documents the effects of state-sponsored violence on daily life in the frontier villages of Armenia, a tiny country in the South Caucasus. Caught at the geopolitical crossroads of East and West, Armenian villagers find themselves used as pawns in a political power game and ignored by international organizations like the OSCE and the UN. But they refuse to give up their agency, and they continue working to make change from within their communities. Even as the people of these border villages suffer violence and privation daily as a result of war, they hold fast to their homeland, preserving their language and culture as part of the world’s heritage. The project explores the villagers’ use of creative nonviolent resistance to defend their human rights and develop their communities.
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Caption: “In Front Of Us, The Border” (Copyright 2020 Kristin Cass)
