Leaving Armenia Is an Unhealed Trauma
 

Recently, the Forum of Armenian Culture and Art took place in Yerevan, organized by the Office of the High Commissioner for Diaspora Affairs of the Republic of Armenia. The founder of Armenian Creators, Lusine Khumaryan, who has been living in the Netherlands for many years, was also invited to the forum. Her visit became an occasion to get acquainted with her and to speak about the platform of Armenian creators she founded.
 

Lusine was born and raised in Yerevan in a family of a musician and a teacher. Her musician father passed away early, and the memory of him lives not only in the heroine’s heart, but also in her deeds: «My dad was such a good person, and I think that as long as you remember a person, he is alive. The Armenian Creators platform is a living memory and a living tribute to him. Every photo I post on the platform, every new story about an Armenian living somewhere in the world is a reminder that my dad is with me».

After her father’s death, the heroine’s mother decided to leave for the Netherlands. The family settled in Amsterdam, Lusine finished school and received a higher education in “International Business and Languages”.
 

«Everyone has life traumas: when I’m asked what the biggest trauma of my life is, I say — leaving Armenia, separation from my environment, family, teachers, friends. Everything simply evaporated in one day.
 

People who tear their children away from their native land, whether justified or unjustified, must understand that such a trauma cannot be healed. In an instant you lose not only friends and the familiar order of life, but also your sense of belonging…», says Lusine.
 

The Work of the EL Events Agency

Living in the Netherlands, the heroine often asked herself: «Who am I? Where is my place?». Working in the corporate sphere, she felt a lack of something very important in life. The question of purpose tormented her until one day she found herself in a museum in Lisbon.
 

Lusine didn’t understand what happened, but suddenly realized that her place was in the creative environment: «At that time I was already working in the family business, but I also began doing event decoration — first for children’s birthdays, then for my friends’ children, and so the circle expanded. Now I have my own agency: EL Events is engaged not only in event decoration, but also in creating thematic content and concepts».
 

Armenian Creators

The second “place” where Lusine Khumaryan brings her creative ideas to life is the Armenian Creators platform, which contains information about thousands of creators of Armenian nationality living in different parts of the world.

The project is almost three years old; during this time, Lusine has managed to present about 2,700 Armenians, and information about another 500 is ready and waiting for its “star hour”.
 

«I often think: how would my dad have wanted me to show my creative abilities?! And since he had a heart of gold, I wanted to do something that would make him happy in heaven. I think he would have really liked the work of this platform.

And this also inspires me to search every day for information about new heroes./

I find them myself too; for that I collaborate with many Armenian organizations, and people who know my heroes contact me, write to me, and also those who simply have a database of Armenian artists.

That’s how they sent me lists of a hundred people with the words “Follow them.” Culture, art, this platform connected a thousand people, and I got to know them thanks to the project.

It is both my gift to my dad, and his gift to me», continues the heroine.
 

Armenian Creators has become not only a platform where you can find a huge number of creative people, but also a place where we can talk about our forgotten communities — communities that are forgotten and deprived of attention.
 

For example, Manuk Suren contacted Lusine. His roots are from Istanbul, but he lives in Los Angeles and works at the Institute of Armenian Studies.

He provided information about hundreds of Armenians living in Turkey and preserving their culture.
 

«Living in the Netherlands, I knew that we have a large Armenian community in Turkey, but I had no idea that there is such a beautiful community of Armenian artists there.

This is one of the most forgotten and vulnerable communities, and I’m glad that Armenian Creators has become a place where we can discover them for ourselves and learn about them».
 

The heroine recalls that when she was a child and went to church in Amsterdam and heard Armenians speaking Turkish, she was surprised — it felt foreign to her.
 

But while working on her project, she began to look at everything differently, because these people lived there — yes, many even have Turkish surnames — but this does not exclude their belonging to the Armenian nation.

After all, we should not look for what is different; we should build on what unites us.
 

And they have the courage to live in Turkey, to speak Armenian there, to have their own schools.
 

«When I began writing about Armenians of Istanbul, my friend told me — these people were waiting for you, Lusine», the heroine says.

Being Together to Win

Lusine has been living in Amsterdam for 25 years, and comes to Armenia 2–3 times a year: longing for her homeland and the need to be here gave birth in her to the desire to move back to her homeland.

She is already developing her personal program of return, for the final implementation of which she needs a certain financial stability.

And for now, often being here, she sees the main problem of Armenians in disunity and in the ability to unite only around pain.
 

«In Armenia, people are not always ready for dialogue, and the longer this continues, the longer our conflict with other countries will last. It is never one hundred percent comfortable for everyone; you need to tear off a piece of yourself for your country or give your country to others. Isn’t it easier for us to come to an agreement among ourselves than to live by others’ rules?! The Dutch built their strong country on this dialogue. If we are together, we will win too».
 

By Nare Bedzhanyan