ABOUT THIS EPISODE
Ah, preservation…what is the first thing that comes to mind when you hear this word? Perhaps you thought of paintings like the eminent Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci, pristinely preserved since 1503. Perhaps you thought of the ever-growing collection of ancient Indigenous artifacts neatly stored behind glass at your local museum. Or maybe you even remembered the family stories told and the canned peaches preserved in your grandmother’s kitchen.
In episode 4, we build a bridge between two sacred sites: the persisting presence of a 17th-century Nipmuc dugout canoe (carbon dated to 1640-1680 AD), sitting at the bottom of Lake Quinsigamond in Worcester, MA today and Aghtamar Cathedral, a monastery-turned-museum and the 9th-century sacred Armenian spiritual haven of Lake Van, brought to life in a short film by Talin Avakian, Kohar's sister and a talented filmmaker, storyteller, and documentarian.
As always, we close out with our half-baked thoughts—the segment where we share ideas that we haven't fully fleshed out but stand fully behind. You’ll just have to listen to the episode to hear those. Thanks for listening! Please rate and review the podcast on Spotify and Apple Music, follow us @nameitpod, and share the episode with a friend!
Where we know from:
Avakian, Kohar. "Introduction to the Exhibitions." In Boundless: Native American Abundance in Art and Literature, edited by Lisa A. Crossman and Heid E. Erdrich, Amherst College Press, 2025. (Forthcoming May 13, 2025 & still in revision). Citable link:https://doi.org/10.3998/mpub.14513702
Talin Avakian, dir., Time of the Gulls. 2014. The ARF Eastern Region Centennial Committee, 2014. Online film. Vimeo link here: https://vimeo.com/112526569
