Survivors

“Roustamgedouk was my grandfather’s village, but it sometimes seems to me that I was born and raised there. My grandfather Mihran passed down his memories to us with great care and, while he was a realist, he naively believed that one day his grandchildren would return to the homeland,” says painter Gor Avetisyan.

At the age of 73 Denis Donikian, a French-born son of Armenian Genocide survivors, has a rich body of work – as a writer of poetry, essays, novels, short stories and translations and as a visual artist, painter and sculptor. His work, like the diaspora, is guided by fragmentation. As New York art critic Clement Greenberg observed, “Being stateless is seeing inside oneself, splitting into bits and fragments, the impurity of one’s condition.”

Margaret Ajemian Ahnert was born in New York City and grew up in the Bronx. She holds a Master of Fine Arts and Literature from Goucher College in Baltimore and a Bachelor’s degree from Goddard College in Vermont. She is also a graduate of the Barnes Foundation of Fine Arts. She has lectured as a docent at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and taught art appreciation in the “Art Goes to School” program at elementary schools.

Viro Arnold (born Virab Khatschatrian) is one of Germany’s most popular portrait painters. His work has introduced him to some of the biggest stars of sport, music and TV. His subjects include musicians such as Snoop Dogg and Ice Cube, footballers Mario Gomez and Roberto Hilbert, boxing champs Arthur Abraham and Regina Halmich, as well as renowned German TV presenter Stefan Raab and former President of Germany Johannes Rau.

The Wilton Hotel stands in the heart of Argentina’s capital Buenos Aires. The building, located on Callao Avenue, dates back to the 1950s and proudly flies the flags of only two countries: Armenia and Argentina. The Akrabian family, which owns the hotel, says this is their way of paying homage both to their roots and their country of residence, one that Kevork Akrabian, the father of Sergio, Carlos and Cristina, called “world paradise.”

Karine Arabian’s name is closely associated with the traditionally male-dominated world of shoemaking, and this woman certainly knows how to navigate it. In just over ten years’ time she has risen to prominence as the designer behind the eponymous brand of women’s footwear and accessories. She also introduced Armenia to the world of haute couture.

Switzerland-based Armenian benefactor and businessman Hratch Kaprielian is Chairman of the Board of Artsakhbank CJSC and CEO of Franck Muller USA, a Swiss luxury watchmaking company. His tone somewhat defiant, Hratch claims to be a native son of Constantinople – a statement that reflects both the city’s diversity and the pride of a family whose story of survival began in the Middle Ages.

Philipp Raffi Kalfayan is a French lawyer and international law expert whose name has come to associate with human rights advocacy. From 2001 to 2007 he was the deputy secretary general of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), and to this day he plays a prominent role in the organization. Since 2003 Kalfayan has also been serving as a consulting legal expert for the Council of Europe’s Directorate General for Human Rights and Rule of Law. More than just his heritage ties Raffi to Armenia: he pioneered the establishment of the bar association in the newly independent republic.

As a leading singer-songwriter and producer, Illinois-born Michael Omartian has been at the forefront of the music industry for close to 40 years. A multiple Grammy Award winner — including “Keyboardist of the Year” and “Producer of the Year” — Omartian stands out in recording history as having produced number one records in three consecutive decades, from the 1970s to the 1990s.

Moscow-based singer Mariam Merabova’s name used to only ring a bell with music connoisseurs and jazz club patrons. She kept a low profile while doing back vocals for Eurovision contestants from Russia, Armenia, Belarus and Ukraine. Her breakthrough came in 2014, when she partook in the Russian version of “The Voice” TV show, enthralling the audience with her expressiveness and musicality.