Illustrations

Artsakh Fundraiser

In 1915, the Ottoman Empire enacted systematic, state-sanctioned genocide on the indigenous Armenian people, wiping out almost 90% of the population. To this day, the Turkish government denies their hand in these atrocities while simultaneously supporting their “brothers”, Azerbaijan, who aims to complete the Armenian genocide. In 2020, Azerbaijan broke their ceasefire to launch attacks on the ancestral Armenian land of Artsakh. Due to global political ties with Turkey and their position as NATO members, the Armenian existential crisis is not covered by mainstream media so the diaspora is forced to rely on grassroots efforts to supply aid to our homeland. In order to help, I created prints of my mom pouring soorj (Armenian Coffee) and donated all of the proceeds (over $4,000 and counting) to Kooyrigs, an Armenian women led organization which provides immediate humanitarian aid to Artsakh and Armenia.

Murals

As the 4th generation in my family born in San Francisco, my love for my city runs deep and, with it, my love for its architecture. In attempts to combat nerve pain, an unfortunate side effect of Spinal Cord Injuries, I’d stay awake for hours drawing different homes I’d come across on my daily strolls around the city. Eventually, this craft gained the attention of the SF based company, Airbnb and, over the span of six days, I created this mural for their HQ. The mural consists of the thirty-six different homes around San Francisco to which I have important and formative personal connections.

Since then, I have designed and executed two murals for conference rooms at Upwork, three murals for an event hosted by the San Francisco Democratic Socialists of America, and one mural for Office Furniture Group for their pitch to Google.

University of Oregon Stickers

After graduating from the University of Oregon with a major in Business Administration, university representatives inquired about a design of the building that houses the Lundquist College of Business: The Lillis Business Complex. They were developing the Mohr Career Center and wanted a sticker of Lillis to celebrate its launch. Having spent countless hours there attending class and studying, I was eager to turn Lillis into art. Years later, it is still exciting to re-visit campus and see the sticker adorning students’ laptops.

Prop M

San Francisco is the city in which my family started over after escaping the Armenian Genocide. For three generations, they rebuilt their lives here, however, with the increased cost of living, they made the decision in the 90’s to move to the East Bay. Along with the tech boom driving up rent prices, the 50,000 vacant units throughout the city also contribute to high rent prices. In efforts to combat this, the SF Democratic Socialists of America put Prop M on the November 2022 ballot which would create a tax for certain vacant residential units then allocate the money for low-income housing. In October 2022, some friends put together an event with DSASF for Prop M and I was responsible for creating it’s promotional flyers as well as three decorative murals featuring classic SF style homes.

St. vartan’s armenian bazaar

The nearest Armenian community center from my childhood home is St. Vartan’s Armenian Church in Oakland. My parents are very involved with the organizing and hosting of church events, just as their parents were before them and their parents before them. Involvement in cultivating Armenian community in the Bay Area seems to fall a little bit shorter with each passing generation, which is why it feels so crucial to help in any way I can. I enjoyed drawing up some illustrations of traditional Armenian bazaar finds for the 2022 promotional flyers - shish kebabs, apricots, pomegranate, soorj (Armenian coffee), and persimmons.