Hyperglyphs

Hyperglyphs is a series of tufted textile works born from my desire to connect with my Armenian heritage—an inheritance obscured by diaspora and distance. I grew up in Australia (Caboolture, QLD), far removed from the Armenian language, land, and culture. I came to know my heritage through fragments: overheard stories, scattered memories and distant relatives.

In this collection, I use the glyphs carved into the stone walls of the Cascade Complex in Yerevan as a conceptual foundation. The monumental Cascade Complex was built in the 1980s and blends Soviet Brutalism with traditional Armenian ornamentation. These stone motifs - bold and enigmatic- became a visual language through which I could begin to ask questions: What does it mean to belong to a culture you feel removed from? What right do I have to claim it? These glyphs became more than architectural flourishes; I see them as symbols of a lineage I long to access, yet often feel unentitled to claim.

I’ve reimagined these stone carvings in hypercolour, distorting and reinterpreting them through the inescapable lens of diaspora. Using tufting—a nod to the long tradition of Armenian carpet-making—I have started to close the distance I feel for my heritage and in doing so, attempt to unravel what it means to be part of a cultural diaspora. 

This work is not a declaration of knowing—it’s an effort to learn. Rendering these glyphs in hypercolour is my way of navigating this disconnection. It is part tribute, part discovery and part reinvention. I carry both longing and hesitation—the fear that I have no right to claim what I don’t fully know. But in this work, I ask questions, I learn, and I begin to belong.