Central to Home, a Vessel, is the use of an ordinary household object, a labneh (yogurt) container, that has been repurposed as a paint bucket. The container, once associated with everyday rituals of food and family, is transformed into a painter’s tool. Through recontextualization, Home, a Vessel suggests that cultural identity is preserved not only through conventional objects or entities but also through contemporary art and performance.

Home, a Vessel is intentionally situated within a New York City neighborhood shaped by generations of immigration, where countless communities have settled to rebuild their lives. Attention is drawn to the papers’ embrace of chance. This visual response of vigorous painterly gesture becomes a metaphor for generations compelled to adapt to unfamiliar environments. In the last image shown below, the papers can be seen physically warped upon drying. Just as immigrant communities are forced to acclimate to altered settings regardless of choice, the papers absorb ink in response to the pressure placed upon them, becoming marked, too, by conditions they cannot fully control. Home, a Vessel was created by Armenian artists and documented accordingly, making shared cultural background an integral part of the work. Together, this performance, finished artpiece on paper, and documentation form a unified series that considers how contemporary artistic practice can carry cultural memory beyond the home while discussing sensitive themes of immigration and place.