The Roswell Museum is pleased to announce the exhibition Esther Elia: Khosh min Lakha. The exhibition will be on view
from Aug. 31 through Nov. 17 in the Roswell Museum’s Entry Gallery. An artist talk is scheduled for Friday, Aug. 30, at
5:30 p.m. followed by a reception in the gallery.
Emerging interdisciplinary artist Esther Elia’s work includes ceramics, painting, sculpture and wearable art reflecting her
identity stemming from her mixed Assyrian and Irish background. Originally from a section of the Middle East stretching
across part of what is now Iran, Iraq, Syria and Turkey, those in the Assyrian diaspora are now all over the world. Her
ancestors fled Iran between 1915 and 1920 as a result of the Armenian, Assyrian, Greek genocide and eventually settled
in the United States. Born and raised in Turlock, Calif., Elia has been collecting oral histories from family members as a
way to connect with and better understand her culture despite assimilation. The exhibition title Khosh min Lakha is a
term in the Assyrian language which roughly translates to “go from here.” While there are a number of ways to interpret
this directive statement, it is understood by those in the Assyrian diaspora that they are no longer welcome in their
homeland and must leave if they want to survive. About this Elia has said, “For me it has the association that we were
told to leave a place suddenly and rudely – by a group that no longer liked us, and that became a large part of our
identity and cultural history. We carry it with us, and are prepared if it is said to us again, while also recognizing that just
because we were told to go – that doesn’t mean that we can’t uproot and thrive again somewhere else.”
Based in Albuquerque, Esther Elia received her Bachelor of Fine Arts in illustration from California College of the Arts in
2019 and her Master of Fine Arts in painting and drawing from the University of New Mexico in 2023. She has exhibited
her work at venues in Arizona, California, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Carolina, Texas and Virginia, as well as in Iraq.
Elia has been an artist-in-residence at Facebook and Minnesota Street Project in California and has received a number of
awards from the Guggenheim Summer College Workshop, the San Francisco State Iranian Diaspora Studies Program, and
SITE Santa Fe, among others. Esther Elia: Khosh min Lakha is the artist’s first solo exhibition at a museum since receiving
her MFA. For more information about the artist, visit estherestheresther.com and her Instagram handle:
@malikta.esther.
The Roswell Museum is at 1011 N. Richardson Ave., just north of the Roswell Convention Center. The museum is open
daily from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. For more information, visit roswellmuseum.org or call 575-624-6744.