Christiane Serkis

ABOUT CHRISTIANE SERKIS

Christiane was born in Beirut, Lebanon, lived in Baghdad and migrated with her family to Lausanne, Switzerland when she was five years old. Her parents were both of Armenian origin, her father was born in an Armenian Catholic Syriac family from Baghdad, Iraq and her mother came from an Armenian Orthodox family that had settled in Alexandria, Egypt, after leaving Samsoun, Turkey.

Predestined by her family background, she spent all her life in an international environment, at school, at work, with friends growing up as a citizen of the world, open to many cultures.

Multicultural identity is one of her concerns. After graduating in Library Science, Institut d’Etudes Sociales in Geneva, in Libraries Management, University of Fribourg, Switzerland and in Human Resources, Ecole de Commerce in Lausanne, she worked in academic law Libraries for over 35 years. She successively worked as a librarian, human resources person, communication and public relations officer. During her exciting professional life, she met researchers from numerous countries where she now counts so many friends.

Among many other countries, Christiane visited Turkey, went back to Iraq several times and discovered Iran and China recently. Her fascination with those regions of the world and her family story which led her ancestors from Turkey, through Egypt, Lebanon, Mesopotamia, Syria, Persia and perhaps also extreme parts of Asia over the centuries, are her motivation to increase her knowledge and to write about ancient civilizations, their influences on cultures and religion as well as people’s migrations, in particular on the silk roads, from West to East and back.

On Art….

As I am no specialist in art and  possibly have some art professionals react, I would say, outside of analyses, technical and social opinions that the experts may put forth, that art is a matter of sensitivity and subjectivity. 

A piece of art will speak to my senses of aesthetics and of harmony, and my emotions, or leave me indifferent unless I dislike it!

I admire the gift of creativity in humans, the talent to express a reality, going beyond it by communicating it in a personal manner, which brings us back to subjectivity. For me, it is a matter of a linking/link between the artist and the viewer. It either happens or not.

On a universal plane, the artistic and cultural heritage of humanity is impressive. Its wealth helps us understand previous civilisations, their history, their customs and the evolution of societies. To my mind, all art forms transmit the cultures that create our world.