Wish

Wish (Ժանյակ, waxed linen thread, papercut, watercolor)

Wish is a community-based, collaborative project created in early November 2024, during my time as an artist in residence at the SWANA Rose Culture and Community Center. Drawing upon Armenian traditions of tying wishes in the form of fabric to trees, bringing together Ժանյակ with papercut leaves and waxed thread, I created a wishing tree in the form of an Armenian blackberry bush. The Armenian blackberry is the invasive species of blackberries I pass by on all my walks in the neighborhood surrounding the SWANA Rose and across so-called Portland - both me and the blackberries far from our ancestral homelands, finding ways to root where we’re planted. 

The piece evolved as participants wrote wishes on papercut leaves, with me tying each leaf to the piece and making the blackberry bush grow. With each wish, I invited participants to contribute funds to Palestinian families’ GoFundMe’s - by the end of November, we were able to donate $270 to Palestinian families living in Gaza. For receipts and a living archive of wishes, visit @wishing.janyak on Instagram.