Figure 4

Citation

G. C. Urlin (Columbus, Ohio). “N. A. Morjickian.” Date: 1886. Greg French Collection. Mirror of Race, 22 Jan. 2021, mirrorofrace.bc.edu/items/show/103. Accessed 22 Dec. 2024.

Title

N. A. Morjickian

Subject

N. A. Morjickian

Creator

G. C. Urlin (Columbus, Ohio)

Date

Date: 1886

Type

Studio Portrait

Identifier

Figure 4

Rights Holder

Greg French Collection

Original Format

Cabinet photograph

Factual Commentary

N. A. Morjickian poses here in a double exposure photograph, showing himself in conventional western European clothes on the left and in traditional clothes on the right. In his autobiographical book, life of morjickian , he tells how he was born in Armenia in 1863, came to America, and entered Ohio Wesleyan University in 1882, all of which he obviously took pride in. Does an image like this demonstrate the possibility of integrating an American identity and one from the immigrant’s land of origin, or does it visually underline the schism between the two, and what is the fate of so many immigrants in America: that within a few generations, the former eclipses the latter?