March 12, 2026
Written by Gallery & Curatorial Fellow Sam Bruetsch
This painting of the inside of Fenway Stadium depicts a sport not associated with the major league baseball team, boxing. However, boxing was a staple at Fenway until 1956. Recently, boxing was revived at the stadium, which inspired Keryan’s 1915; Nolan Brothers bring back boxing to Fenway Park, 2026. On June 7th, 2025, presented by Nolan Brothers Boxing, the legacy of boxing at Fenway Stadium was celebrated once again. Keryan attended the match and while observing, noticed details besides the ring. Despite being a painting of a historic night for Boston boxing, the painting doesn’t focus on the boxing ring and instead focuses on the banners of Baseball wins. While many would just see these record numbers, Keryan saw part of her family’s history.
The Armenian genocide began in 1915 when around one million Armenians were killed primarily during death marches through the Syrian desert. During these death marches, Armenians were deprived of food and water and subject to robbery, rape and massacre. Those who survived were sentenced to concentration camps with only around 200,000 deportees alive by the end of 1916. This genocide along with the genocide of Assyrian/Syriac and Greek Orthodox Christians, enabled the creation of an ethnonationalist Turkish state, the Republic of Turkey. As of 2025, only 34 countries recognize the Armenian Genocide with the Republic of Turkey maintaining that the deportation of Armenians was not a genocide.
While this was a horrific period of time for the Armenian people, for the Red Sox this was a fantastic time of consecutive championships. For Keryan, the iconic Red Sox sock logo under these dates connects to the loss and erasure of the Armenian people and the two thousand years of history destroyed through the genocide. The bare socks infers the loss of shoes and the excruciating death marches. It also connects to ascension and raising above rage and negative emotions as Keryan navigates her grief.