Art in Times of War with She Loves Collective
She Loves Collective, an alliance of female artists who share a strong belief in the power of creating social change through art, present a recap of MY RELIC (three pop-up exhibits on display April 11th-May 2nd on Artsakh Avenue) and HER RELIC (an immersive installation on display June 3rd- August 15th at ReflectSpace Gallery). Both pieces came together in the wake of unprovoked aggressions and destruction waged by Azerbaijan and its closest ally, Turkey, against the Armenian enclave of Artsakh and the Armenian people. With the majority of the collective members identifying as Armenian- in a time of unrest and uncertainty the female “artivists” channeled their trauma, pain, and anger through their art.
We are excited to share that this event will be broadcast live from the ReflectSpace at Glendale Central Library.
Date/Time
Thursday, July 29 | 7 PM
About Ani Nina Oganyan
Ani Nina Oganyan was born in Armenia. With the collapse of the Soviet Union, and a war that would go on to last a total of six years, at the age of two her family immigrated to the United States of America seeking a better life. Eventually finding long term residence in the Pelanconi neighborhood of Glendale, CA. A lover of all things Glendale- Ani Nina attended Keppel Elementary, Toll Middle School, and Herbert Hoover High. A long time volunteer at the Glendale Humane Society, member of the Glendale Historical Society, campaign manager for several Glendale officials- it wasn't until the completion of her Interdisciplinary Studies from UC Berkeley in 2013, with an emphasis on Theatre and Performance Studies that she decided it was time to reconnect with her homeland. For a year she would volunteer and work as an acting and vocal coach at a TUMO Center of Creative Technologies, as well as an English Language teacher at the Yerevan Women's Resource Center in Armenia. After her return to the states she worked in production and casting. In 2016 she met Adrineh Baghdasarian- founder and curator of She Loves Collective and began working with the collective on several projects, Ani Nina is the collective’s producer on several projects. In 2017, she made the decision to move to Armenia more long term and has since been bi-continental in her work and projects.
About She Loves Collective
She Loves Collective is an alliance of female artists who share a strong belief in the power of creating social change through art. The collective aims to change the lives of its artists, as well as the lives of those touched by their works, in turn creating art anew.
We seek to organize events, exhibitions, workshops, and more to showcase and support artists- new and established artists. It is important to have our artists voices heard and their work visible, particularly but not limited to our immediate community. All while aiming to test the boundaries of medium, expression, and creativity. She Loves Collective aims to inspire and awaken the inner creative in us all and promote love in all its myriad manifestations, from love of self to love of others, whether romantic, sexual, sisterly, fraternal, cosmic, or familial—love extending across species and time, creating spaces and places of kindness, caring, and creativity in a world in dire need of the for mentioned. Members of our collective are a confluence of artists from diverse backgrounds and disciplines, each with their own stories to tell. These stories, whether told via fine art, photos, video installations, performance, writing, or other forms of cultural expression, are going to be all about love- exploring and depicting its diverse manifestations and implications. Love is a subject that inspires and elicits feeling across the gamut of human emotion and can be expressed in every medium imaginable. She Loves Collective is not only about the inner power of women within the arts, but about how we love and are loved, coming together to elevate the enormity of being more than ourselves, harnessing the power of the many—the collective— thereby carrying each other, together.
