Today we’d like to introduce you to Christopher Atamian.

Hi Christopher, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.

My background: I attended Harvard and Columbia Business School before attending the Swiss Polytechnic in Zurich on a Fulbright Fellowship and then worked for twenty years in advertising and at JP Morgan I bank as the Head of Branding Globally.

I took this experience as a writer and with brand to work as a freelance writer and started Atamian Hovsepian Curatorial Practice, with exhibition spaces galleries in New York City and Yerevan, Armenia.

My parents were immigrants from Switzerland and Lebanon who valued education and hard work: my mother in particular worked hard to pay private school tuition and make sure I could do sports on weekends and travel in the summers to expose me to the world and develop empathy and an openness to people different from me, These are lessons I retained, including the importance of kindness, compassion nd of giving back to one’s community–something the Lebanese Armenian communities also emphasize.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?

It has never been a smooth road. I had to study hard with students who were almost always more privileged economically and had parents who had attended university, while I was what was called “First Generation” today.

I am LGBTQ and experienced discrimination at work and from my peer group at times; I had overcome severe illness and realize that you have to enjoy life as it comes and not expect it to always look exactly the way you expected it, either at work {I a have not won a Nobel Prize or an Academy Award) or in one’s private life.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?

I write criticism/journal;ism (https://evnreport.com/columns/choghakate-kazarian-and-the-art-of-curating/), poetry (https://www.amazon.com/Washington-Heights-Christopher-Peter-Atamian/dp/197648393X), have translated seven books (https://www.amazon.com/Trashland-Denis-Donikian/dp/B0CFJ2NFTD) and am publishing my first novel this coming fall. I also have written nd directed short films and one feature.

I curate art exhibitions at my gallery as well as for universities, private collectors and museums, and also write the press releases and gallery catalogues for artists. I find working with a artists and being writer myself incredibly stimulating znd gratifying, and I am able to travel to work at biennials and in Europe and that is wonderful all-around.

You can never let a setback or perceived failure stop you–always move forward and try to correct the behavior or qualities that y0u feel may have led to sup-optimal results, It is never to late to succeed or be happy!

We’re always looking for the lessons that can be learned in any situation, including tragic ones like the Covid-19 crisis. Are there any lessons you’ve learned that you can share?

Life is not fair and you have be cautious but enjoy life–and also life in the moment because, as with the recent fired sin Loa Angeles, you never know what life will throw your way, amen.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.atamianhovsepian.art
• Instagram: @christopheratamian
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/christopher.atamian