1 - Why Did the Superior Court Reject
Governor’s denial of Sassounian’s Pardon
By Harut Sassounian
Publisher, The California Courier
www.TheCaliforniaCourier.com
2- Armenian PM Pashinyan Announces June Early Parliamentary Elections
3 - Armenians, Jews demand Elbit Systems stop weapon supplies
to Azerbaijan
4- Minister of High-Tech Industry Arshakyan Punches Journalist Fahradyan
5- Armenia Continues to Fight COVID-19 Pandemic
6- Narineh Avakian of Glendale Found Dead After Missing on a
Day-Long Hike
7- Fresno State SAE, National Raisin team up
to donate $22,000 to kids’ centers in Armenia
8- Armenian Students at Canada’s Concordia University
Force Cancellation of Turkish Ambassador Lecture
9- Two Armenian-American filmmakers Vying for Academy Awards
10- ‘The Whiskered Old Toymaker of Baraka’: Kardash Onnig’s Latest Project
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1 - Why Did the Superior Court Reject
Governor’s denial of Sassounian’s Pardon
By Harut Sassounian
Publisher, The California Courier
www.TheCaliforniaCourier.com
Last month, California Superior Court Judge William C. Ryan rejected
Gov. Gavin Newsom’s refusal to accept the Parole Board’s decision to
release Hampig Sassounian from jail. I was under the wrong impression
that the Governor’s decision on pardons was final and not subject to a
review or reversal by the courts. It turns out that the law requires
the Governor to consider “all relevant, reliable information
available” and his parole decisions must not be arbitrary or
capricious. This article is based on a copy of the Judge’s 19-page
ruling.
Hampig Sassounian, not related to this writer, was convicted on June
29, 1984 of first degree murder and sentenced to life without the
possibility of parole, but was resentenced to a term of 25 years to
life in 2002, making him eligible for parole. Sassounian assassinated
Turkish Consul General Kemal Arikan in Los Angeles on January 28, 1982
when he was 19 years old. He is now 58.
On December 27, 2019, the Board of Parole Hearings, found Sassounian
suitable for release on parole. However, on May 25, 2020, Gov. Newsom
rejected the Board’s decision based on the prisoner’s crime, “outsized
political import,” and that his insight was “relatively new.”
On August 14, 2020, Sassounian filed a petition to the Superior Court
challenging the Governor’s reversal of the Parole Board’s decision. He
argued that the Governor’s decision is not supported by evidence that
he posed an unreasonable danger to society, if released. Sassounian
also contended that the “Governor imposed an unlawfully heightened
standard of parole suitability illegally founded upon the
circumstances of Sassounian’s life crime.” He contended that there is
no evidence that he lacked “insight” and “the Governor’s conclusion
that Sassounian has not demonstrated insight ‘for a sufficiently long
period’ is an illegal reason to deny parole.”
On October 7, 2020, the court issued an Order to Show Cause. The
Governor’s office filed its response on January 11, 2021, repeating
the reasons why he refused parole for the prisoner. Sassounian then
submitted his response on January 26, 2021 rejecting the Governor’s
claims against him.
Judge Ryan ruled that Sassounian’s record does not contain any
evidence to support the Governor’s contention that he is not suitable
for release on parole. In addition, the Judge found that the Governor
used an improper standard when considering both the “import” of
Sassounian’s offense and the notoriety of his victim, as well as the
recency of his insight. Therefore, the Judge ordered the release of
Sassounian from jail.
Judge Ryan, in his verdict, mentioned Sassounian’s description of his
background “as an Armenian born and raised until the age of 13 in
Lebanon. During this time, they lived in an ‘active war zone and would
routinely see dead bodies,’ including those of women and children. His
father was an alcoholic who was often gone for weeks at a time, though
Petitioner [Sassounian] had a good, loving relationship with his
mother. He lived with his many siblings and extended family members,
including his grandparents who were victims of the ‘Armenian
Genocide.’ His grandmother often told Petitioner of how she lost her
entire family to the genocide and that she only narrowly escaped death
herself.”
The Judge continued: “At 13, his [Sassounian’s] family immigrated to
the United States to escape the violence in Lebanon, but the family
dynamic remained challenging. They moved to Pasadena where there was a
large Armenian population. He joined the Armenian Boy Scouts and the
Armenian Youth Federation. This is where he met his crime partner,
Krikor ‘Koko’ Saliba. They became friendly a year or two before the
crime and would discuss politics and the history between Armenia and
Turkey, including the genocide. They also noted and discussed that
there were ‘a lot of political assassinations going on’ at the time.
That is, ‘Armenians were assassinating Turkish diplomats in Europe
mostly because they were angry that … after the genocide Turkey would
deny the genocide…. Young Armenians were upset about this and — they
thought that — Turkey should step up and acknowledge the genocide…and
get into dialogue with the Armenian people or make peace with them.’
Because this was not happening, ‘young Armenians decided to resort to
violence….[They had] given up that… peaceful dialogue with Turkey was…
going to happen.’ During this time Petitioner [Sassounian] and his
crime partner, who was a few years older than Petitioner, discussed
going to Europe to carry out an assassination like they had been
seeing take place. At some point, Arikan, however, made a public
address calling all Armenians ‘liars’ and declared there was no
Armenian genocide. Saliba showed Petitioner an article regarding
Arikan’s statement. ‘Being the grandsons of survivors of the Armenian
genocide, we took that to be very insulting. And we took very deep
offense about that.’”
Judge Ryan decided that “there is no evidence in the record to support
the Governor’s finding of lack of insight, such the commitment offense
of nearly 40 years is still probative of Petitioner’s current
dangerousness.”
The Judge challenged the Governor’s contention that Sassounian’s
insight into his crime was “very recent.” Judge Ryan stated that “the
case law establishes there is no predetermined amount of time an
inmate must demonstrate or possess insight such that it is sufficient
for the purposes of suitability.” The Judge ruled that “the insight
standard the Governor used to guide his decision was incorrect… and
held Sassounian to a different ‘arbitrary’ standard.”
Regarding the issue of Sassounian being a danger to society, “the
court notes that the psychologist found Petitioner to represent a low
risk of violence upon release,” wrote the Judge. “Petitioner wrote a
victim apology letter to Mr. Arikan’s family, friends, and colleagues,
as well as one to the ‘Nation of Turkey, the Turkish government, and
Turkish Communities of the World,’” stated Judge Ryan. “The court
finds the Governor’s decision was both arbitrary and procedurally
flawed,” ruled the Judge. He also noted that Sassounian “has
comprehensive release plans for both the United States and Armenia.”
This is in reference to Sassounian’s statement that he may relocate to
Armenia after his release from prison.
At the end, the Judge pronounced that Sassounian “committed a murder
for which he has been appropriately punished…. The Governor’s reversal
is vacated, the Board’s grant of parole from December 27, 2019, is
hereby reinstated. The Board is directed ‘to proceed in accordance
with its usual procedures for release of an inmate on parole unless
within 30 days of the finality of this decision the Board determines
in good faith that cause for rescission of parole may exist and
initiates appropriate proceedings to determine that question.’” Gov.
Newsom decided not to appeal the Judge’s ruling, allowing the pardon
go into effect which would set Sassounian free shortly.
In my opinion, violence is never justified regardless of the reason.
Consul General Arikan was not guilty of committing genocide against
the Armenian people. He was not even born during the genocide.
Armenians have demands from the Government of Turkey, not individual
Turks. Sassounian committed a crime for which he was punished by
serving almost 40 years in jail. The complaints by the Turkish
government about Sassounian’s release are not credible. The Turkish
government pressured the Federal Government to urge Gov. Newsom in
2020 and previously Gov. Brown in 2017 to reject the Parole Board’s
decisions to release Sassounian. Even less credible, not to say
completely shameful, are the protests of the Azerbaijani government
against Sassounian’s release. Azerbaijan awarded Azeri axe murderer
Ramil Safarov the title of national hero for butchering an Armenian
soldier while he was sleeping. Safarov served not a single day in jail
in Azerbaijan after his extradition from Hungary.
Finally, it is completely unacceptable that the Turkish Government
would demand excessive punishment for an Armenian who murdered a Turk,
while Turkey itself continues to deny the mass murder of 1.5 million
innocent Armenians. Only after the Turkish government acknowledges the
Armenian Genocide and makes appropriate amends for it, Armenians can
consider apologizing for the murder of a single Turk!
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2- Armenian PM Pashinyan Announces June Early Parliamentary Elections
(RFE/RL)—Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan says that early
general elections will be held in the country on June 20, following
talks with the leader of the opposition parliamentary faction
Prosperous Armenia.
He and Gagik Tsarukyan acknowledged during their meeting on Thursday
that the snap elections were “the best way out” of the ongoing
political crisis, Pashinyan wrote on his Facebook account on March 18.
“Taking into account my discussions with President [Armen Sarkissian],
the My Step faction, the leader of the Bright Armenia faction Edmon
Marukian, early parliamentary elections will be held in the Republic
of Armenia on June 20,” he said.
Marukian said that he had a telephone conversation with Pashinyan and
that holding early elections on June 20 was acceptable to his party.
The opposition has been pushing for Pashinyan to resign after the
defeat suffered by Armenian forces last year against Azerbaijan in
fighting over Nagorno-Karabakh.
A coalition of opposition parties has been holding anti-government
demonstrations in Yerevan and other parts of the country in a bid to
force Pashinyan to hand over power to an interim government.
Pashinyan, whose My Step faction dominates parliament, has refused to
step down but had hinted at accepting early parliamentary elections
under certain conditions.
The opposition alliance—Homeland Salvation Movement—of more than a
dozen political parties and groups demanding the resignation of Prime
Minister Nikol Pashinyan has said it will continue its street protests
despite the announcement of early parliamentary elections in June.
Ishkhan Saghatelian, a coordinator of the alliance called Homeland
Salvation Movement, said on Friday that they had “sufficient reasons”
to doubt that Pashinyan genuinely intends to resign and hold elections
on June 20.
Pashinyan announced the date of the vote following talks with Gagik
Tsarukyan, the leader of the largest opposition Prosperous Armenia
faction in the Armenian parliament.
Edmon Marukian, the leader of the other opposition Bright Armenia
faction, said later that day that he had a telephone conversation with
Pashinyan and confirmed that holding early elections on June 20 was
acceptable to his party.
Even though the Pashinyan-led alliance enjoys a comfortable majority
in the Armenian parliament, the prime minister has sought a sort of
agreement with the two opposition factions to ensure that they will
not field their own candidates if he resigns and thus will pave the
way for the parliament to be dissolved and new elections to be
appointed. Members of Pashinyan’s political team have said this is
needed to exclude the risk of upheavals.
The Homeland Salvation Movement, of which Prosperous Armenia is a
member, holds Pashinyan responsible for the Armenian defeat in last
fall’s six-week war against Azerbaijan in Nagorno-Karabakh.
In recent months it has been holding anti-government demonstrations in
Yerevan and other parts of the country in a bid to force Pashinyan to
hand over power to an interim government.
Since late February the opposition alliance has been blocking part of
a central boulevard in Yerevan where the Armenian parliament and
several other government offices are located.
Talking to media on Friday, March 17, Saghatelian said that the
movement may introduce some “tactical changes” in its struggle, but
will stick to its main agenda according to which Pashinyan must resign
and a provisional government be formed before preterm elections can be
held in at least a year.
The Homeland Salvation Movement has named Vazgen Manukian, a
75-year-old opposition politician who led Armenia’s government in the
early 1990s, as a candidate to replace Pashinyan as prime minister. It
says Manukian and his political party will not take part in the
eventual early elections, which, according to the movement, will
ensure his neutrality as the organizer of the vote.
Saghatelian said that Pashinyan’s announcement of early elections was
yet only a statement and that the opposition has no reason to trust it
“based on the previous experience.”
At the same time, the coordinator of the opposition movement warned
that if elections are held with the Pashinyan government left in
charge of organizing the electoral process, the vote may trigger a new
crisis instead of settling the ongoing one.
“We find that snap parliamentary elections are a necessary condition
for getting out of the current situation, but if Pashinyan continues
to act as prime minister during the election period, there is a great
risk that the elections will not be competitive and that there will be
no equal conditions [for participants]. And there is a great chance
that such elections will be rigged. In that case, instead of becoming
a way out of the current crisis, these elections may trigger a new
crisis,” the coordinator of the Homeland Salvation Movement concluded.
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3 - Armenians, Jews demand Elbit Systems stop weapon supplies
to Azerbaijan
(Public Radio of Armenia)—The Armenian community in Israel and dozens
of Jews rallied in front of the building of the military corporation
Elbit Systems—which produces weapons supplied to Azerbaijan—on March
17.
The protesters demanded to stop the supplies to the Aliyev regime,
which uses weapons against civilians, blogger Alexander Lapshin
informs.
The rally was organized by the Union of the Armenian Communities in Israel.
According to Lapshin, the protestors outside of the Elbit building
explained that Azerbaijan is ruled by a dictatorial regime that
occupies 168th place out of 180 possible in the world in terms of
civil liberties—and that Azerbaijan is spreading Armenophobia and
promoting intolerance towards national minorities.
Lapshin wrote that protestors said Azerbaijan uses Israeli weapons to
strike at the peaceful civilian population in Karabakh. According to
Lapshin, rotesters told him, “Azerbaijan is an unreliable ally for
Israel with its growing Islamic fundamentalism, and in the near future
there will be a change of power there for a hostile one for Israel and
the Jews” and that “Thousands of Armenians saved Jews from the Nazis
during World War II, while Israel not only fails to recognize the
Armenian genocide, but also supplies weapons to Azerbaijan.”
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4- Minister of High-Tech Industry Arshakyan Punches Journalist Fahradyan
(OC Media)— Armenia’s Minister of High Tech Industry, Hakob Arshakyan,
was caught on camera on March 18 punching a journalist in the face.
CCTV footage from a cafe in Yerevan showed Arshakyan walking over to
Paylak Fahradyan, who was sitting at a table with his laptop, before
launching his attack.
An official investigation into the incident is underway.
Fahradyan, an editor at Armenian news portal Irakanum.am, reported the
attack in a live broadcast on Facebook on Thursday, March19. He said
the minister was upset after he asked him why he was at a cafe during
working hours.
“First, Arshakyan told me he works at night and that all hours are
working hours for him, after which he asked me to turn the camera off,
and when I did, he started telling me that I would remember this day
and started threatening me,” Fahradyan said.
After a short conversation, the footage shows Fahradyan returning to
his table. Later, Arshakyan is seen approaching and attacking him,
pushing his laptop.
Fahradyan said his hand was injured and that his phone and laptop had
been damaged.
He urged law-enforcement bodies to accept his video on Facebook as a
report of a crime.
The Prosecutor General has forwarded a case regarding the incident to
the Special Investigation Service to look into.
Shortly after the first footage showing the attack appeared online,
pro-government news site Civic.am shared additional footage of the
conversation between Arshakyan and Fahradyan prior to the attack. They
accused Fahradyan of using “indecent language” and cursing, which they
said led the minister to lose control.
In a post on Facebook on Thursday, March 19, Arshakyan insisted he was
against violence.
“Any participant in our society, be it an official or a journalist, is
first and foremost a person, has emotions, is sensitive especially in
any issue related to the family,” Arshakyan wrote. He apologized to
anyone in the cafe whose “rest he disturbed.” Arshakyan said he was
ready to take responsibility for the incident.
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5- Armenia Continues to Fight COVID-19 Pandemic
Armenia will roll out the Covid vaccination in March 2021, Minister of
Health Anahit Avanesyan told reporters last week.
She said the vaccination will be given on a voluntary basis. People in
risk groups will be vaccinated free of charge, she said, adding that
it’s not yet clear what it will cost for others.
According to Avanesyan, the government will import only the vaccines
that have successfully passed phase 3 of clinical trials.
Three vaccines—AstraZeneca, Pfizer and Sputnik V—have so far been
approved by an expert commission.
According to the Ministry of Health, there were 12,138 active
coronavirus cases in Armenia as of March 22. Armenia has recorded
184,219 coronavirus cases and 3,360 deaths; 168,721 have recovered.
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6- Narineh Avakian of Glendale Found Dead After Missing on a
Day-Long Hike
GLENDALE — A woman whose family reported her missing when she didn’t
return from a day-long hike last weekend was found dead near a
Southern California mountain trail on Saturday, March 20 police said.
Glendale resident Narineh Avakian, 37, was discovered near the Mount
Waterman Trail, the Glendale Police Department said in a news release.
Preliminary investigations indicate that foul play was not involved,
police said, but an investigation into her death is ongoing.
Family members first contacted police on March 8, informing officers
that Avakian left her home a day earlier around noon and had said she
was going on a one-day hiking trip, an earlier news release from
police said.
She did not say where she was going, police said.
“Per the family, it is common for Narineh to go hiking with groups and
on solo trips — though lately she has been going solo,” the release
said.
On Thursday, Avakian’s parked vehicle was located in the Buckhorn Day
Use Area, along the Angeles Crest Highway, police said. The area had
been heavily impacted by a recent snowstorm, police said.
After her vehicle was found, search and rescue teams from the Los
Angeles County Sheriff’s Department were deployed but severe weather
conditions — including about a foot of snow — put a pause on the
search for several hours.
Glendale Police said search and rescue teams from 17 different
counties assisted in the effort to find Avakian.
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7- Fresno State SAE, National Raisin team up
to donate $22,000 to kids’ centers in Armenia
FRESNO—The Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity at Fresno State and National
Raisin teamed up to raise $22,785 for the Armenian Missionary
Association of America (AMAA). National Raisin matched $10,000 that
the fraternity raised for the AMAA ‘Shogh’ Day Centers. The centers,
located in Yerevan, Gyumri, Vanadzor in Armenia, and Shushi and
Askeran in Artsakh, are educational after school programs serving
nearly 290 children, from ages 6-12 years old, from socially
underserved families. The centers offer hot meals, educational
support, summer camps, fine art classes, and more, all targeted at
lifting families out of poverty.
President Matt Astone, who is Armenian, shared what the donation meant
to the fraternity. “In the fall, we closed our chapter house due to
the pandemic. Seeing our members rally around this cause and achieve
this level of philanthropy is a testament to the strength of our
brotherhood”.
Another Armenian member of the fraternity, Daniel Abdulian believes in
this cause. “This issue is close at heart for my family. Knowing the
recent events in Armenia, our brotherhood wanted to help those that
need it the most”.
The fraternity thanked donors and said it appreciated National
Raisin’s generosity. In April, SAE will be raising money for Valley
Children’s Hospital through the Children’s Miracle Network.
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8- Armenian Students at Canada’s Concordia University
Force Cancellation of Turkish Ambassador Lecture
MONTREAL (CTV News)—Student groups at Concordia University found
themselves in hot water last week after inviting Canada’s Turkish
ambassador to give a talk on the ongoing conflict between Armenia and
Azerbaijan. The talk—which was supposed to happen on Friday, March
20—was about the Nagorno-Karabakh region, an area which has been the
site of warfare for generations.
Turkey has been a strong ally to Azerbaijan, which led some student
groups to criticize event planners that had invited the Turkish
ambassador to give a talk on Friday.
In a March 19 press release, four Armenian students’ advocacy groups
called the event “extremely racist in nature,” adding that “hosting
Turkey’s representative unopposed and providing the government of
Turkey an academic platform to discuss the Nagorno-Karabakh war is
unethical, at best.”
“If you want to have a dialogue about Nagorno Karabakh, the voices
that should be heard should be the ambassador of Armenia and the
ambassador of Azerbaijan,” said Leonardo Torosian, co-president of the
Armen Karo Student Association, one of the undersigned groups.
CTV News reached out to Concordia University for comment. A
spokesperson responded to say the event had been planned by
“independent student groups [who] decide their own activities.”
Under pressure from the student groups and comments on social media,
the organizing groups decided to cancel the event.
“Many have voiced their disapproval of this event,” read a statement
posted Friday, March 20 to social media by the student groups that
organized the talk, which they said “was not meant as an endorsement
of any state or political actor.”
Turkish Ambassador Kerim Uras himself took to social media to voice
his disapproval of the cancellation on Friday, which he called “a sad
day for freedom of speech and Charter rights in Canada.”
“Radical Armenian groups can’t even tolerate a free exchange of views
with a group of students,” he wrote. “Their use of the word ‘racist’
shows their intellectual poverty.”
“This is a person that represents a dictatorial Turkish regime,” said
Torosian, referring to the ambassador. “[A country] which violates
human rights, which closes universities; we do not understand how any
Canadian university can host such an ambassador.”
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9- Two Armenian-American filmmakers Vying for Academy Awards
Two Armenian-American filmmakers will be competing for Oscars this year.
Madeline Sharafian has been nominated for an Academy Award for her
film “Burrow” in the Best Animated Short Film category.
Sev Ohanian is one of the executive producers of the film “Judas and
the Black Messiah,” which has been nominated for six Academy Awards
including Best Picture.
“Judas and the Black Messiah” is a 2021 American biographical drama
film about the betrayal of Fred Hampton (played by Daniel Kaluuya),
chairman of the Illinois chapter of the Black Panther Party in
late-1960s Chicago, at the hands of William O’Neal (played by Lakeith
Stanfield), a FBI informant.
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10- ‘The Whiskered Old Toymaker of Baraka’: Kardash Onnig’s Latest Project
By Arpi Sarafian
(The Armenian Mirror-Spectator)—While quintessentially “Kardash”ian in
its focus on the effort to create an alternative world, COLLABORATION,
the latest in the series of Kardash Onnig’s ongoing Baraka Project, is
also delightfully playful and colorful, attributes one does not
typically associate with the artist’s work. The reproductions of the
vividly colored pages of the children’s books — which Onnig, in
collaboration with Vazo, an artist friend from France, salvaged from
recycling bins, whitewashed “blank” and gave to children to draw and
color, to “in effect start a new book” — put the spotlight on the
children who, by the artist’s own admission, have become central to
his creativity.
The book gives the reader a wonderful feeling of lightheartedness. One
turns its pages in anticipation of yet another pleasing image of the
artwork of the children it celebrates, or of the toys, the making of
which has taken center-stage in the artist’s creative endeavors. A
yellow zebra with blue stripes, an orange dragon, a sparkling unicorn,
a green sea turtle…all burst with color and ingenuity. Making toys is
“rewarding, fulfilling,” confesses Onnig. Indeed, “We The Children”
give the artist hope for the future of mankind: “I have given up on
grown-ups and instead concentrate on helping children.” Onnig is
eternally optimistic and has unwavering faith in his vision of a more
humane and compassionate world.
The handsome little volume also features the artist’s latest
creations. The photographs of the “new finished work” Onnig has carved
from a large beech chunk are incredibly appealing. Interspersed
throughout are the reflections of artists of different backgrounds on
their lifelong relationships with Onnig. The exchange between Onnig
and Uli Boege, a friend artist of German descent with whom Onnig has
enjoyed 53 years of intellectual collaboration, is especially
illuminating. The two pals’ extreme positions on the women’s movement,
on Nietzsche’s Dionysian Vision of the World and on much more, invite
the reader to explore her own views on these controversial issues.
Also included are short narratives of “a quintessential moment,” a
unique personal experience the artist has asked visiting women to
share “as part of an ongoing study to better understand the concepts
of spirit and soul.”
With the Baraka Project, Onnig extends the concept of creativity into
his collaborators whose very willingness to contribute evidences the
respect they have for a guy that some dismiss as a “lunatic” with an
unattainable vision of an “impossible” world. With his initiative, the
artist aims to “connect people and experiences across the nation and
internationally.” “It is an honor to have been selected as a visiting
artist-in-residency at Baraka Center for 3-D Experimentation,” writes
architect Nathan Williams whose work explores the African diaspora
process. “Baraka is a space for simultaneous living and giving,
creating and sharing,” he adds. All value the guidance Onnig provides
and all claim to “learn from Kardash Onnig.” “Onnig is a master . . .
I consider him a mentor, despite all his resistance to such titles,”
writes Gregory MacAvoy, a sculptor from Brooklyn, NY, in his musings
“On the nature of collaboration.”
Onnig’s confidence in the possibility of making his vision of a
three-dimensional world a reality is more rooted and anchored than
ever. His has become a most appealing assertiveness which, rather than
offend and turn off, reassures and inspires. The artist communicates
his insights with an unusual calm. He also displays a “genuine and
affectionate interest” in his interlocutor. Onnig listens mindfully,
empathizes, and when possible, offers generous advice. Some of us may
have witnessed the artist’s lashes and rages. These are never personal
attacks, however. They are expressions of the frustration the artist
feels over the fact that “the world looks away as blood is shed
unjustly.” Commenting on one such explosion, where he was “the
recipient of the scorn,” “Onnig is a serious man, worthy of his point
of view,” notes MacAvoy. A glance at the cover reveals that the book
has a title but no author. “The following stories explore
collaboration as an antidote to our egocentric mono-ism,” writes
Onnig. Collaboration implies equal participation. Indeed, all of the
artists, including the children the “whiskered toymaker” has great
respect for, emerge as significant contributors to the seventy-three
page volume. All items for Baraka’s Pushcart Derby, for example, which
included a traveling portrait workshop, were collaboratively designed
and hand-made. Paradoxically, however, the book which Onnig describes
as “working toward the fulfillment of the desire to reach out to an
other” has Onnig’s unmistakable signature stamped on it. The concept
of Voki, the “experiencing of a transference: two others in
collaboration,” (a concept I am yet to fully internalize) is Onnig’s.
The spirit to include, to share and to give, give, give is Onnig’s.
While others have died “giving,” to give, for Onnig, is life. More
than with any of his numerous other projects, COLLABORATION is as much
about the man behind the art as it is about the art itself.
Excitement is contagious and COLLABORATION has excitement written all
over it. Indeed, the book is so entertaining that one loses sight of
the seriousness and the urgency of the artist’s appeal to “redream
this world.” The reader is equally oblivious of the ambition and the
hard work that went into realizing the project. COLLABORATION is a
labor of love, but it is also hard labor. Bringing the collaborators
together to create an impeccably put together whole is a feat in
itself.
COLLABORATION is a great finale, both in terms of summing up a
decades-long career and also of leaving with a bang! Fortunately
however, as always with Onnig, the exit is also a new entrance.
This article appeared in The Mirror-Spectator on March 7, 2021.
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