My work primarily centers around themes of collective memory, belonging, and resilience. My multicultural upbringing and experiences in different parts of the world have shaped the themes and narratives that embody in my work, often reflecting our collective memory of trauma. Through my work, I engage with the human condition, navigating between the past and present, constantly challenging boundaries in ways that reveals and unites. Resilience is the beating heart of my creative process in response to human pain and suffering.
I was born in Damascus to an Armenian mother and a Syrian father. After obtaining an M.Sc. in biochemistry in Damascus, I moved to Paris, where I received my Ph.D. in microbiology from Paris Diderot University. I then joined the École Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs (ENSAD) in Paris. In 2015, I moved to New York City, where I lived and worked until 2026. Since 2026, I am based in Shanghai.
My art projects have been presented, among others, at the Cité internationale universitaire de Paris (2007), Europia Gallery (2013), on the forecourt of Notre-Dame de Paris (2012), Nuit Blanche Paris (2014), Power House Arena, New York (2019), Brooklyn Public Library, New York (2020), Gallery Pauline Pavec (2021), Espace Écureuil, Toulouse (2023), and most recently at the Kameyama Triennale, Japan (2024).
PUBLIC ART
2024 N0 NAME, sound performance with Eisuke Oooka, Kameyama City Hall, Mie prefecture, Japan.
2022 Letters From The Ocean, Manhattan Park pool, Roosvelt Island, New York, NY.
2020 MAWTINI- motherland, Plazza of Brooklyn Public Library, A Night of Philosophy and Ideas, Brooklyn, NY.
2014 MAWTINI- motherland, Saint Sévrein church, White Night contemporary art festival of Paris.
2013 A Screen to The Brain, Installation for Felipe Oliveira Baptista and Bureau BETAK at Festival Hyères, France.
2012 Impesanteur, Parvis de Notre Dame, Paris, France.
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
2024 N0 NAME, Installation, Kyu Tachi-ke Jutaku, Kameyama Triennale, Mie prefecture, Japan.
2023 Horizons olfactifs, Cureted by Sandra Barré at Espace écureuil, Toulouse, France.
2021 ODORE, Cureted by Sandra Barré at Pauline Pavec gallery, Paris, France.
2019 Road Song, Unpublishable, Power House Arena, Brooklyn, NY.
2013 Syria My Forgotten Land, Europia gallery, Paris, France.
2013 Eikona. Diaspo’arts, Anako, Paris, France.
2007 Armenians Portrait of a People, Cité Universitaire de Paris, France.
2002 Armenians The Silence of the Stones, Cité Universitaire de Paris, France.
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
2023 Horizons olfactifs, Sandra Barré, fondation pour l’art contemporain, Toulouse, France.
2021 L’odeur de l’art, a panorama of olfactory art, Sandra Barré, Brussels, Belgium.
2021 ODORE, l’art, l’odeur et le sacré, Sandra Barré, Studio Tomes, Paris, France.
2020 Picto NY Collection, Covid-19 relief fund to support The Bowery Mission, New York.
On the Road, Unpublishable, PowerHouse Books, Archway Editions, Brooklyn, NY.
2018 Interview with Architectural Photographer Hratch Arbach, Bontena magazine.
Commercial Architecture Magazine, by Gary L. Parr, Vol.16, No.8.
2017 The Photographer of the Week, Picto New York.
Lost Homelands: An Interview with Hratch Arbach, by John Shorb, Arts Vol. 28 No. 2, New York.
2015 A Discussion Over the Cliff with Hratch Arbach, by Margaux Bonnet, From Sham with Love.
Life in Progress, special edition, by Francis Kurkdjian, best artistic collaborations, New York.
A reflection about the status of Art in our society, Queens Museum, NY.
2014 In Black and White, by Hratch Tchilingirian, University of Oxford, UK.
Remarkable Syrian artistic event evoking peace held in Paris, by Haifa Said, SANA agency.
Hratch Arbach x Cire Trudon, by Kaelie Kelleher, The Wild magazine.
2011 Interview with Hratch Arbach, by Vana Afarian, AZTAG newspaper, Vol.84 No. 275, Beirut, Lebanon.
SCIENTIFIC JOURNAL COVER DESIGN
2022 Multi-omic analysis of clonal hematopoiesis, «Nature Genetics», Vol.54 No.10
2021 CDK6 complexes and tumor cell response, « Nature Cancer », Vol.2 No.4
Antimalarial Drug Discovery, «Trends in Parasitology », Vol.37, No.6
2020 CD28 antibodies cross-link tumors with T cells, « Science Translational Medicine », Vol.12, Iss 549
2019 SHP2 Drives Adaptive Resistance to ERK-dependent Tumors « Cell Reports », Vol. 26 Iss 1
2016 Germinal Center-Specific Locus Control Region in B cells, « Immunity », Vol.45, Iss 3
GRANTS / RESIDENCIES / AWARDS
2024 Shangyuan Art Museum, art residency, Beijing, China.
2022 Two years grant from Creatives Rebuild New York.
2021 CNYC Artist Corps Grant, New York.
2020 Grant from Cultural Services of the French Embassy in the U.S., New York.
Grant from ArtBridge New York.
2016 Immigrant Artist Mentoring Program, New York Foundation for the Arts, Brooklyn, NY.
2014 Grant from Art, Culture et Foi, Paris, France.
Selected artist for the contemporary art festival, Nuit Blanche Paris 2014, Paris, France.
2007 Selected artist to represent Armenia in Year of Armenia art festival in France.
2003 Three years fellowship from ARC pour la Recherche sur le Cancer Foundation, Paris, France.
2002 Young Scientist Award, Des Treilles Foundation, Paris, France.
2001 Grant from Société de Secours des Amis des Sciences, Paris, France.
2000 Three years fellowship from Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, Lisbon, Portugal.