A life transformed
A life transformed
Perouz Seferian's journey through Western sparked a passion and a commitment that turned a "Sunday painter" into a professional artist. It also gave the daughter of survivors of the Armenian genocide the confidence and the courage to reclaim her ethnic identity and reveal her family's history in her work.
"Western altered my life. It changed who I am," says Seferian, who had been out of school for 45 years when she began studying at Western in 1993.
Having just received her honors degree in Fine Arts and the Angela Armitt Medal for the highest graduating average among part-time students at fall convocation 2005, Seferian is already achieving considerable success in her chosen field. A recent invitee of the International Association of Genocide Scholars, she is presenting papers and sharing her art with academics from around the world in addition to exhibiting her work at public galleries.
"My father wrote, 'Silence is the voice of approval,'" says Seferian. "Coming to Western has allowed me to be heard, to not be silent, to be a voice in protest of all crimes against humanity, all acts of genocide."
