Beyond the Confines of Art and Society

by Rosário Teixeira

As the flowers sprout from the thawing ground in the Boston Public Gardens, every spring, the Armenian Genocide billboards sprout in Watertown, the heart of the community as a bouquet of hope. The message on the billboards is to recognize the Armenian Genocide as a historical fact. This year, the message reads

"87 Years of Denial...
Recognize the Armenian Genocide
April 24, 1915."
The waving American flag in the background pays tribute to the victims of the terrorist attack of September 11, 2001, when innocent American citizens went to work but never to return home. Likewise, eighty-seven years ago, a whole nation, more than a million innocent Armenians never returned ‘home.'

In the last seven years Daniel Varoujan Hejinian has been the man behind the billboards displayed, during the months of March and April, in Watertown the heart of the Armenian Community in Massachusetts. The message is carried by Mr. Hejinian and sponsored by AK Media where he holds the position of creative art director. These billboards commemorate the anniversary of the Armenian Genocide.

It is the intention of Mr. Hejinian to bring awareness to the community at large. His parents were amongst the survivors who fled their country. Oral recollections of the horrors were engraved in his psych and determined how he related to the world. All things considered, art was the proper path to follow, which allowed him to create a beautiful world of peace and justice.