Poetry: Maria Kharmandarian

Poetry and zine design by Maria Kharmandarian, @_mariakean

“I'm half Armenian, half Russian, was born in Cyprus and raised in Lebanon, where I attended an English school and was overall surrounded by people very different from me. My own experience of being unable to identify myself as one culture or nationality led to me exploring that theme further by talking to people who have shared similar experiences. Surprisingly enough, I managed to find quite a few that went through the same stuff that I had and we mutually bonded over our feelings of being almost definition free and the discomfort we feel when asked about our nationality or cultural identity, since we are never able to put it into simple words. 

This is a series of poems on the topic, that focus on my own and others life experiences.”