
Annie Kurkdjian
THRIVE is an AIWA project dedicated to highlighting individuals who are doing remarkable things in their personal and professional lives to better themselves and those around them. These individuals are inspiring, dynamic, innovative and interesting. Today, we feature Annie Kurkdjian, Artist.
Annie Kurkdjian (She/Her), Artist.
Born in 1972, Annie Kurkdjian had to endure sixteen years of civil war in her native Beirut. Her childhood was marked by the noise of bombs, terror, permanent insecurity, and the inconsistency of ordinary things. As an Armenian, she already felt the trauma of the Armenian genocide through the history of her grandmother. At the age of twelve, when her family was preparing to flee Lebanon for France, she lost her father in a brutal murder during a hold-up. The next day she discovered pictures of his lifeless body, riddled with bullets, in the newspaper. As a young adolescent, she suffered from PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) and realized that she had to find an outlet for the distress imprinted on her body. After a period of trying to find her niche, leading through studies of management, art, psychology, and ultimately theology, Annie decided to turn the page in 2005 and start a new life as an artist, with regular expositions in France, Lebanon, Bahrein, Jordan, and several other countries. She received many prizes like the Prize of Fontenay-sous-Bois town, the Jouhayna Baddoura Award, and a special mention from the jury of Salon Sursok. Her work is in many collections like Burlington City Arts, Musée de Tessé, Fontenay-Sous-Bois town hall, and the Jordan National Gallery.
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