To grow up in a diaspora means to envision a homeland that you have never seen, but have built brick-by-brick in your mind through narratives. But what happens when you come eye-to-eye with that imaginary geography for the first time? Painter and film artist Eleanor Ekserdjian invites us to explore the fluid nature of belonging, migration, and borders with her debut solo exhibition, We Are Our Mountains, at Messums London.
Eleanor Ekserdjian’s interdisciplinary practice blends moving images with dynamic and rapid brushstrokes on canvas. The core spine of the exhibition is formed by the internal journey of the artist as an individual who grew up in the UK but always carried a profound curiosity about her Armenian roots.
When Ekserdjian traveled to Armenia for the first time in 2022, she captured the lands she had previously only kept alive in her mind, giving birth to her first film, Imagined Landscapes. Documenting medieval monasteries and vast landscapes—sometimes as ancient, peaceful spaces, and at other times as uncanny borderlines bearing the traces of modern conflicts—this film serves as the point of departure for the paintings in the exhibition.
What is a “Simultaneous Landscape”?
Upon returning to the United Kingdom from her travels in Armenia, Ekserdjian began painting in her Sussex studio, drawing from both the film frames she shot and the emotional residues left in her memory. However, during this process, the artist did not merely depict a single geography; she intertwined the mountainous silhouettes of Armenia with the landscapes of the British countryside right beside her.
This method, which the artist calls a simultaneous landscape, brings together the fluidity of abstract forms and the striking sharpness of brushstrokes. The state of experiencing the world through the lens of two different geographies at the same time produces the plastic language that stays truest to the reality of a diasporic mind: the condition of being both there and here.
“For me, this method offers a much more accurate and intimate approach to the way we all perceive and experience the world.” – Eleanor Ekserdjian
Borders and the Radiance of Frescoes
In 2025, the artist returned to the region to examine the frescoed churches of Northern Armenia along the Georgian border. The works she produced following this trip were defined by writer Ben Shakespeare as a shimmering meditation on cultural memory and exile.
We Are Our Mountains digs into the political role of architectural structures and nature over collective memory and current territorial disputes. The paintings swing like a poetic pendulum between stillness and motion, the aesthetics of the past, and the geopolitical wounds of today.
Live Note for no-26 Readers: Poetry in the Gallery Tonight!
If you are currently in London, a wonderful pairing awaits you on the exhibition calendar. Tonight, Monday, June 22, at 18:30, a special event will take place as part of the exhibition. Playwright Abi Zakarian’s poetry reading, titled I Have Always Been (T)here, will bring that volatile, layered sense of belonging found in Ekserdjian’s paintings into the gallery space through words.
We Are Our Mountains offers a striking visual and auditory installation that demonstrates how memory is preserved not just in the mind, but in the folds of soil and stone. The exhibition closes on June 27; do not forget to drop by Messums London before the closing to gaze slowly at these layered landscapes.
Exhibition Details:
- Venue: Messums London
- Artist: Eleanor Ekserdjian
- Exhibition Title: We Are Our Mountains
- Closing Date: June 27, 2026
- Special Event: I Have Always Been (T)here (Poetry reading by Abi Zakarian) – Monday, June 22, 2026, at 18:30
