“Witness” is a series I created during an artist residency at Centrum in Port Townsend, WA. In my own development as an artist, this was a time of major breakthroughs — both from a technical and aesthetic point of view.

In addition to my art supplies, I packed a copy of “PhotoShop for Dummies” and feverishly taught myself the basics of the program. A visit to the local library propelled me into a surprisingly large World War II section. Armed with a dozen books, I returned to my studio where I buried myself in a history I was only too familiar with — both my Armenian and Swiss families had been gravely impacted by the war — and emerged consumed with overwhelming feelings that needed expression and infused the works.

Sometime in the middle of reading the books, I received the news that my Armenian uncle in Switzerland had died. His own story, laden with genocide and personal war related losses, morphed into that of the world and its endless wars, to give birth to “Fear and Freedom.”