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Deborah Valoma
Referencing the first line of “Thread Mem-
ory,” an essay Deborah Valoma authored,
this piece commemorates her Armenian
foremothers’ unspoken chronicles of loss.
For 100 years and more, their stories of
violence, deportation, and exile were held
in muted silence. But night after night with
heads bowed, they stitched their memo-
ries in thread. In River of Loss (Threads of
Memory) the handkerchiefs are trimmed
with traditional Armenian needlelace – a
technique Valoma first learned from her
grandmother — and pay homage to the
unacknowledged work of memory and
mourning.
“Thread Memory” will be published in
English and Turkish by the Hrant Dink
Foundation (Istanbul) in the volume enti-
tled 23.5.
32dv River of Loss
embroidered rayon thread, cotton canvas, pencil
15” x 49” x 1.5”, 2020
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