Born in Brazil, in Love with Armenia
 

Scrolling through Instagram, you have most likely “come across” my new heroine and the world of her illustrated images, through which she expresses her boundless love for Armenia, its nature, and its people. Behind the soulful images of A of Art is Anais Zadikian, in love with her Homeland. This is how her Instagram page introduces her.
 

Anais was born in Brazil and moved to Armenia in 2019 following her older and younger sisters: “We always had a dream to live in Armenia, but we never thought it would come true. Our life is both real and feels like a dream.”
 

Anais and her sister received their Armenian upbringing from their paternal grandmother: their mother hardly spoke Armenian – in her family, the issue of preserving Armenian identity was not emphasized. In their father’s family, on the contrary, it was a pressing matter: their grandmother taught her granddaughters Armenian, prayers, and read them Armenian poetry. Reciting Silva Kaputikyan’s poem “A Word to My Son” before meals was a mandatory ritual.
 

“We used to recite:

So look, my son, wherever you may be,

Wherever you may go under this moon,

Even if you take your mother out of your head,

Your mother tongue don’t you forget.

Back then it felt strange to us – how could one forget their mother?! But now I understand my grandmother’s fears. Yes, under very extreme conditions, we still remained Armenians. When I look back, I realize that all of this could have been traumatic, we were so much ‘fed’ with patriotism, yet everything was so sincere… We truly adored Armenia; photos of Ararat hung on all the walls. Grandmother used to say our rooms were like a small Vernissage,” Anais recalls.

Years later, the family, especially Anais’ father, admits that he had “kept” his daughters restricted out of necessity, as he saw the risk of losing Armenian identity, the risk of them drifting away: “I believe he acted correctly, he believed in returning, and for that reason he spoke a lot about Armenia and Artsakh. He didn’t call us ‘diaspora Armenians’; he didn’t like dividing Armenians into those in Armenia and those in the diaspora…”.
 

Life Outside One’s Bubble
 

After moving to Armenia, Anais stayed true to the upbringing she received from her father: with every Armenian she meets, she seeks only what unites them. And what unites them is one nationality, one homeland, and one Armenian language. Friends from the diaspora often reproach her for the fact that her Western Armenian has changed, adapting to Eastern Armenian and the local dialect. Anais sees this only as a positive: after moving to Armenia, it is very important not to live in your own bubble, but to integrate. And in the end, she continues to speak Armenian as before.
 

Along with this pan-Armenian approach, Anais feels a special reverence for local Armenians, as in her opinion they have preserved the land for centuries, which today is home to all Armenians: “No matter how proud we are that far from our homeland we preserved our identity, it is important to remember that in the end, it was the locals who protected the homeland. They may now be a bit dissatisfied or even harsh. Yes, we had our own struggle, and I am not to blame for being born in the diaspora - no one is. But you betray when you understand that you have a homeland and still choose comfort. Locals did not have the option of choosing a comfort zone.”
 

The heroine admits that she knows many in the diaspora who refuse to accept locals as their own and refuse to integrate. When the time came to decide “which flag to hold,” she chose to defend those who defended the physical homeland.
 

Anais has been living in Armenia for six years now; during this time she has experienced both good and bad, turned away from disappointments, as she believes that seeing the good is a choice and a position. And after every disappointment, something good always follows. She has gone through this both in her professional life and during her studies at the Armenian Academy of Fine Arts.
 

Anais from AofArt
 

Anais is an illustrator, and her project AofArt is a way and a platform to communicate with Armenians living in different parts of the world. Through it, she expresses all her love for Armenia, its nature, and its culture. The images she creates have been loved by many: she has portrayed a warrior, a couple in love, a rural resident, and everyday life scenes.
 

Anais’ artistic signature can also be found in the activities of the “Ayordi” NGO, which she joined in 2021 after the war. There she met many of her future friends, including women who had lost their husbands; they taught her not to complain about life and hardships: “If they smile, what problems do I have? That’s also where I met my husband. ‘Ayordi’ and Armenia gave me the most valuable things…”.
 

The three sisters – Anais, Nairi, and Ani – tied their lives to Armenia: Anais got married in Echmiadzin, Nairi in Ashtarak, and Ani’s husband is a Syrian Armenian. As Anais says, they are all united by one nationality and one homeland.
 

The heroine often mentally speaks with her grandmother, who is no longer alive: she would have been happy to know that her granddaughters tied their lives to Armenia, but even more often she tries to connect with her grandfather, whom she never met and who lived longing for his homeland…
 

“In the end, everyone chooses where to be. But everyone who chooses to be Armenian must be here…”.
 

Interview conducted by Nare Bejanyan

Translation via AI based on the original article in Russian:  "Каждый, кто выбирает быть армянином, должен быть здесь..."