Ancestral Journeys: Reflections on Land and Belonging
Talk: Following a Thread Home

November 13, 2025, Thursday
16:00
Venue: Hrant Dink Foundation Anarad Hığutyun Building
Papa Roncalli St. No: 128 Harbiye, Şişli/İstanbul
*The talk will be in English and there will be no simultaneous translation.

To register for the event, please fill out the form.

Some journeys are about discovery, while others are about reunion. For many, certain routes lead us to our roots, even generations later. As Hrant Dink profoundly stated, "Every Armenian is a document," and he always addressed the significance of understanding history through the lived experiences of survivors. Through their descendants, the memories of survivors are revitalized and shared with new generations.
Join us for a unique conversation series that explores themes of discovery, reunion, and ancestral journeys. The "Ancestral Journeys: Reflections on Land and Belonging" series, which we began with Carolyn Rapkievian and Anahid Nazarian, continues on November 13 with Deborah Valoma's talk at the Anarad Hığutyun Building.
Professor emerita of textiles at the California College of the Arts in San Francisco, Deborah Valoma's specialized field of research, writing, and responsive art making investigates textiles as signifiers of identity and agents of cultural continuity. In this talk she discusses a multi-year interdisciplinary project that led her to her ancestral villages in the Kharpert area—the first of her family to set foot on the land in more than one-hundred years. Daughter of an Armenian family gripped by the silence of intergenerational trauma, Deborah turned to her grandmother’s collection of heirloom textiles as a source of story and memory.

We Welcome Your Stories
This conversation series is part of a broader dialogue about ancestral journeys and the profound connections between past and present. If you are an Armenian living abroad who has undertaken or is planning an ancestral journey, we would be honored to hear your reflections and experiences. Your stories of discovery, reunion, and belonging contribute to the collective memory that Hrant Dink spoke of - each narrative adding depth to our shared understanding of heritage and home.We invite you to share your own journey with us. Please reach out through This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to connect and explore how your story might enrich this ongoing conversation.

Deborah Valoma

Deborah Valoma is Professor Emerita at the California College of the Arts in San Francisco. Her research explores the cultural history of textiles as a global aesthetic practice. She has published widely on textile history and theory, including the book Scrape the Willow until It Sings: The Words and Work of Basket Maker Julia Parker (Heyday), which received the California Book Award’s Gold Medal. As an artist, Valoma combines digital weaving technologies with hand processes to explore material and poetic dimensions of the medium. Her work has been exhibited at the Honolulu Museum of Art, Honolulu; the de Young Memorial Museum, San Francisco; the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; and the Textile Museum, Washington DC.