Diyarbakır Arts Center hosted the exhibition ‘Fresno-Bitlis-Yerevan, Where is Home Where is Abroad’ to commemorate the writer William Saroyan whose 100th birthday was also included in UNESCO’s 2008-2009 calendar of anniversaries. The exhibition that was held February 7-March 10, 2009 featured archival photographs from Saroyan’s youth in Fresno and his visits to Anatolia and Armenia, combined with selected quotations from his works. In an attempt to understand Sorayan, who is always remembered with a smiling face yet always bore a dark and inapproachable side, and who embarked on a journey to pursue his roots, the exhibition revolved around three main themes: Fresno, Saroyan’s birthplace; Bitlis, the Saroyan family’s homeland that William Saroyan always felt belonging to; and Yerevan, the city Saroyan visited four times – in his own words – ‘to feel closer to Bitlis’. The exhibition explored Saroyan’s relationship with these three cities, focusing on how he defines his identity, sense of belonging, and feeling of unbelonging through them, and how these relationships changed over time.

The exhibition also featured works by four prominent photographers: Ara Güler, Boğos Boğosyan, and two photographers who accompanied Saroyan during his Anatolian visit, Bedros Zobyan and Fikret Otyam. In addition to the selection of quotations from Saroyan’s works, the exhibition also included the texts written by Karin Karakaşlı and Rober Koptaş titled ‘Pergelin Sabit Ucu Fresno’, ‘Bitlis’te Ocağım Tüter’, and ‘Yerevan Diye Bir Ütopya’ along with a chronology of Saroyan’s life. In the exhibition venue, works of Saroyan in English, Turkish, and Armenian were also displayed, and the sound recordings by Ayda Erbal provided a glimpse into Saroyan’s spiritual world. Designed by graphic artist Mehmet Sinan Niyazioğlu, the exhibition also featured a recording of theater actor and radio host Eraslan Sağlam reading William Saroyan’s ‘The Human Comedy’. Following the exhibition opening, a talk titled ‘Three Homelands of Saroyan’ was held with Rober Koptaş as the keynote speaker.