Christmas in Armenia

Kevork Mourad was born in Kamechli, Syria. Of Armenian origin, he received an MFA in Armenia, from the Yerevan Institute of Fine Arts and now lives and works in New York. Known for three-dimensional immersive installations and live co-performances with musicians, some of his projects include the multimedia play "Lost Spring" with Anaïs Alexandra Tekerian at the MuCEM, "Gilgamesh" and "Home Within" with Kinan Azmeh in Damascus and at the Brooklyn Museum of Art, and the Grammy-nominated documentary "Music of Strangers" with Yo-Yo Ma’s Silk Road Ensemble.
In the 2010s, Kevork has explored calligraphy and drawing. With ink as his preferred medium, he created increasingly more nuanced depictions of urban views through a multi-step process of applying, scraping off and reapplying ink in layers to create an illusion of depth. Often idealized and nostalgic, his imagined cityscapes aimed to capture memories of places the artist once knew.
Christmas in Armenia is dominated by strong verticals evoking an image of myriads of candles that Armenian worshipers light during the Christmas Eve candlelight service. Composed of pointed domes, traditional Armenian ornamental patterns, saints' halos and angels' wings all of which are huddled closely together, the artist presents the viewers with a fairytale-like image of a medieval city of his dreams.