lu adami - Diyarbakir

Two dogs watch the viewer. They stand on the ruins of a city destroyed by civil war, guarding something only they are aware of. Concentric circles and seemingly frivolous decoration disrupt and deny the viewer hope of discerning further than the outer edges of the image. In Diyarbakir, animals roam freely throughout ancient and rebuilt streets alike. I imagine each of these animals as an incarnation of a nameless god encouraging me to pause, think, continue.

I jumped and landed outside of what I always thought I knew. The artist as child is placed in the ruins of a militaristic wall. Carefree and clad in a bathing suit, the child runs through fallen stone and unkept grasses. What histories have been forgotten here?

In this body of work, I disregard time and space, using that unsettling as fertile ground for new understandings of my identities and the communities I tie myself to.

I Want, documented by the SMFA Performance Club, 2025

I have found the religious studies I have embarked on over the past five years to be helpful in guiding my understanding of how the life I am living today relates to the lives of my ancestors and, more importantly, the lives of yesterday's trans people. I was raised in the Armenian Orthodox church and many of my childhood and teenage memories are rooted and influenced by the beliefs that I held during that time. When I began to live proudly as a queer, transgender person during my undergraduate studies, I took steps back from the church and the community that I felt an inherent comfort in. In 2021, I participated in an Exhibition of Armenian Artists in Chicago, IL that allowed me to see a space for me in Armenian communities through new connections.

More important to me than any organized religion, this reintroduction spurred an interest in long established religions like Zoroastrianism, Buddhism, and paganistic traditions from the SWANA region and Scandinavia. From the research that I have conducted I have been able to explore 2-Dimensional and performance work that connects my lived experience in the 21st century with imagined histories. I am allowed into that headspace of creation through a blend of spiritual practices and continued conversations with those who share similar interests and cultural backgrounds.