The Brighter I Shine

For one Armenian child, birthdays are a time for decorating the house with bunches of rose and mint and sumac, for eating beef dumplings with garlic yoghurt, and for baking cakes with family and friends. But birthdays are also a time for telling stories – stories of ancestors and homelands, of births and new beginnings, and of the land their family now calls home. For stories make up who we are, and the more stories that are told, the brighter this little child shines.A magical tale about finding yourself in the stories of your ancestors and keeping their memories alive.

Kamee Abrahamian is a queer, feminist interdisciplinary artist, producer, and storyteller, born into an Armenian family displaced from the SWANA region. She lives on the traditional territories of the Anishinabewaki, Huron-Wendat, and Haudenosaunee, peoples, also known as Prince Edward County, Ontario. Lusine Ghukasyan graduated from the Yerevan Academy of Fine Arts in Armenia and the Marseille Mediterranean College of Fine Arts and Design. She strives to add a touch of magic to all her illustrations for children.