Ancestral Journeys: Reflections on Land and Belonging
Talk: From Whitinsville to Arapgir

June 11, 2026, 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.

We continue our "Ancestral Journeys: Reflections on Land and Belonging" series, previously held with Carolyn Rapkievian, Anahid Nazarian, Deborah Valoma, and Paul Vartan Sookiasian, this time with photographer and archivist Greg Jundanian.

Jundanian's work places identity and belonging at its center. His projects include In Their Footsteps…an Identity Fractured by Genocide, Spoken Word, and Consider This Your Home. His latest work, Once There Was and Was Not, explores the feelings of absence and trauma growing up as a second-generation Armenian in the diaspora.

Jundanian is also the founder of Three Squares New England, an organization focused on battling hunger in Massachusetts, and a co-founder of Armenians of Whitinsville, an archival project on Armenian community and identity. The project documents a community established by Armenians who emigrated from the Harput region in the early 1880s. Over the last few years the project has collected and digitized family photographs, handwritten recipes, documents, memory objects and audio recordings so that they can not only be preserved, but shared with others from around the world. It stands as a living testament to how the diaspora took root in a new home.

Moderated by Aylin Vartanyan Dilaver, Jundanian will share his journey to Arapgir, the region his family originates from, as well as his work preserving collective memory through the Armenians of Whitinsville archival project.

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.

Gregory Jundanian 

Gregory Jundanian is an artist focused on communities and contemporary landscapes. His projects include In Their Footsteps…an Identity Fractured by Genocide, The Thirteen Moons, Trees I Have Known, Spoken Word, and Consider This Your Home. His latest work, Once There Was and Was Not, explores the feelings of absence and trauma of growing up as a 2nd generation Armenian in the diaspora. Jundanian is the founder of Three Squares New England, an organization focused on battling hunger in Massachusetts. He is also a founder of the Armenians of Whitinsville project, an archival project focusing on community and identity.

Aylin Vartanyan Dilaver

After studying political economy and literature at Barnard College and Columbia University, Aylin Vartanyan Dilaver continued her career teaching critical reading and writing at Boğaziçi University School of Foreign Languages. Since the establishment of the B.Ü. Peace Education Application and Research Center in 2006, she has worked as a trainer, organized seminars and conferences, and participated in curriculum development efforts that blend critical pedagogy with an arts-based perspective. In 2005, she encountered Augusto Boal's Theater of the Oppressed approach. The trainings she received, supported her belief in the crucial role art plays in the context of social transformation. In 2010, she started her doctoral studies in Expressive Arts and Social Change at the European Graduate School in Switzerland and received her CAGS degree. In 2021, she became a member of the Institute of Expressive Arts Istanbul in Istanbul, where she works as an instructor and facilitates workshops. She continues her work as one of the founding members of Parrhesia Collective, a group of Armenian women academics and artists.