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The Indeterminate Equation

Data visualization, Visual Art

The Indeterminate Equation

This is the story of my grandfather Arsen, who was a survivor of the Armenian Genocide. His story is one out of many, epitomizing the millions of untold stories of those who perished during the genocide and those who survived.

However, this story is told through the portraits of its key players, in an indeterminate equation. In mathematics, an indeterminate equation is one which has more than one solution, thus cannot be solved uniquely. The indeterminate equation in question here simplifies the causal relationship between the perpetrators and the victims of the Armenian Genocide, using my grandfather’s example to showcase the consequence of the events. The first part of the equation is the sum of the three prominent figures of the political party in power in the Ottoman Empire, who carried out a systematic genocide against the Armenian People in 1915-1916. One and a half million Armenians were killed. The three figures are Mehmet Talaat, Minister of the Interior in 1915 and Grand Vizier (Prime Minister) in 1917; Ismail Enver, Minister of War; Ahmed Jemal, Minister of the Marine and Military Governor of Syria. On the other side of the equation lies my grandfather’s family portrait. 

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