" 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. "

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.

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.

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.