Anna Petrosyan

Dialogue N 2

Where is the blurred line between reason and irrationality?

“Dialogue N2 (12x12 inches, acrylic on canvas) juxtaposes a grilled chicken with a real bird, and an egg in between them. Although the composition of the painting is taken from a medieval Armenian miniature with two birds in profile view merging into a face in frontal view, I wanted to play on the representation of the birds. This hybrid creature with a bird’s body and a female’s face, similar to the Greek sirens and harpies, is called a “hushkaparik”. These creatures are often depicted in Armenian miniatures to indicate a person who is questioning their faith. In addition, hushapariks symbolize all that is rejected by Christianity and patriarchy. As symbols of immorality and heresy, hushkapariks can also be interpreted as symbols of female empowerment and rebellion, since they reject traditional social structures. Hence, the half-bird half-woman creatures in my work can be read as self-portraits since I refuse to conform to patriarchal norms. Unlike the miniature, I depicted one of the birds as “dead”, on a plate ready to be consumed. This juxtaposition creates tension and disquietude. A question that may arise when looking at the painting is whether the egg in the middle is a fresh egg belonging to the bird in the nest, or whether it is a cooked egg, and is part of the plate. The intent of this painting was to create a composition that would test the limits of “what counts as reasonable”. Dialogue N2 explores the blurred and fluid line between reason and the lack of logic.”