Painted chest of drawers, 1976-2001
Caseine paint and acrylic on wood, painted plastic flowers Lent by the artist
(Photo: Harry Foster © Canadian Museum of Civilization Corporation)
" There was nothing but snow and I remember one thing -
I painted the basement of my house apple green. Green because
I thought the snow would never melt. "
" I have lived in so many countries that I have not yet
found my home; I search for it still. I say that I have found it, that
it is my cabin in Canada. But I still don't know if I have found it. I
don't know. "
Extracts from an interview with the artist
Born in Beirut in 1939 to Armenian parents who had survived the genocide,
Mirella Aprahamian left Lebanon to study art in Switzerland. She then lived
in Greece, Morocco and, for 13 years, in the United Kingdom. Established in
Canada since 1984, she now lives in Montreal.
Mirella Aprahamian,
Montreal, Quebec, 1999
Camille Zakharia
Iris digital prints
Collection of the Canadian Museum of Civilization
This professional artist began her training in Beirut (ALBA) and further
pursued it by taking courses and workshops in the many countries she lived
in—including at the Cass School of Art in London and the Pratt Graphics
Center of New York—, and by concentrating, above all, on the techniques of
engraving. I am an engraver even when I paint, she says.
This "Mediterranean person," as she calls herself, has found a
new "white light" in Canada, that of winter. When I arrived
here, I was using very pure, very violent colors ... and little by little,
all that snow ... and the desire to adapt, the fear of being myself ... Later,
I found my own pace. And everything changed, the inspiration, my style ...
A theme that recurs in her fictitious landscapes, her engravings and her
painted furniture is the small red-roofed house of her native country.
I have lived in so many countries that I have not yet found my home ;
I search for it still.
![Vendémiaire II](/web/20061029120415im_/http://www.civilization.ca/cultur/cespays/images/pay2_03p11.jpg)
Vendémiaire II, 1995
Oil pastels on Rives BFK paper Lent by the artist
(Photo: Harry Foster © Canadian Museum of Civilization Corporation)
Many artists dream of their past, but can only express it when they
are living in another country. I find myself in the same situation. These
images can all be created because I live here, away from my country.
Otherwise, it would not be possible.
Mirella Aprahamian has to her credit numerous exhibitions in Canada and
abroad, and her works are found in many museums and institutions, including
the Lodz Museum in Poland, the San Lozzaro Museum in Venice and the National
Library of Canada as well as the Bibliothèque nationale
du Québec.
http://collections.ic.gc.ca/waic/miapra/miapra_e.htm
mirella@videotron.ca
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