Altered and appropriated images of relatives before they left Armenia. c1900.  My introduced patterned overlays, are intended to be reminiscent of the rugs that so famously come from the areas where my ancestors fled in 1915 – Kharpert, Ottoman Turkey. The image deliberately concealed, obscured, fragmented, and digitally artifacted – much is lost in the translation.

“…even as it is impossible to describe exhaustively and in its totality what “Armenian” is in Armenian identity, I suggest, it is the connections, the relationships, the occasions in diasporic life in the 21st century that makes a piece of music or a painting, or literature or a bowl of harissa “Armenian.” It is the memory, thought and message that a cultural object or creation represents that makes it “Armenian” by connecting it to a meaning system that is larger than an individual’s personal world.”
Hratch Tchilingirian

Joanna’s work reflects an investigation into contemporary manifestations of personal, cultural and social identity. The stories are told via pattern, design, collage, illustration and often include alternate personas, voices & characters that emerge from this narrative, who delight in the potential of difference and revel in absurdity…