100 BILLBOARDS FOR 100 YEARS OF GENOCIDE

11:38, 08 Apr 2015
Siranush Ghazanchyan

Peace of Art, Inc. launched its 2015 genocide awareness billboard
campaign “100 Billboards for 100 Years of Genocide.” Dedicated to
the centennial of the Armenian Genocide, and it honors the victims
of all genocides of the last one hundred years.

In January 2015, Peace of Art, Inc. began to display large electronic
and stationary billboards in Massachusetts, and expanded the
project to other states. Artist Daniel Varoujan Hejinian, founder
and president of Peace of Art, Inc. said “We are sending a message
of peace, to condemn the past crimes of genocide, and bring awareness
to this cause, in order to prevent other nations from being the next
target of genocide. With the billboards, our message is that genocide
continues to be a threat to humanity, we urge viewers to condemn the
crime of genocide, be alert, ‘Don’t be the next victim,’ and put an
end to this crime against humanity once and for all.”

Five different images were created for the Peace of Art’s 2015
Armenian Genocide centennial campaign. On the first billboard, a
dove, a symbol of peace, is circled by the letter “O” in the word
“genocide,” with the flags of countries that already recognized the
Armenian genocide. Another billboard was distinguished by a target
in the center of the word “genocide.” The third electronic display
symbolizes the bitten heart of a nation, in which the bitten piece
reminds us of the loss of 1.5 million innocent victims. The fourth
billboard display includes “Forget Me Not” flower in the center of
the word “genocide.” The fifth billboard states that the Armenian
Genocide has been recognized by 43 states in the United States, and
asks President Obama to join them, reminding him of his campaign
promise to recognize the Armenian Genocide. As April 24th, 2015
approaches, the Armenian communities in the United States, as well as
Armenian communities around the world, await impatiently for President
Obama to use the word “genocide” in his commemoration speech, without
distortions or euphemisms.

In 2003, Hejinian officially founded Peace of Art, Inc. a nonprofit
educational organization; however, his Armenian Genocide awareness
campaign activities began in 1996. Peace of Art, Inc. uses art as an
educational tool to bring awareness to the human condition. Through
the universal language of art, we promote peaceful solutions to
conflicts, but we have no political or religious associations. In
the last nineteen years we have displayed the Armenian Genocide
commemorative billboards calling for recognition of the Armenian
Genocide. In 2004 Peace of Art Inc. began to sponsor the Armenian
Genocide commemorative billboards.

This year, the goal of Peace of Art, Inc. is to raise 100 billboards
in different states and other countries to commemorate the centennial
of the Armenian Genocide. The billboards commemorating the centennial
of the Armenian Genocide, as well as previous Peace of Art, Inc.

projects have been organized and funded by Peace of Art, Inc.