John Kazanjian
Growing up in an Armenian family alongside an identical twin, John Kazanjian spent much of his early life searching for a path of his own. After studying design at Harvard and building a career in environmental planning, John eventually embraced his sexuality and found lasting love with Jack, a composer who became his partner for 35 years. Together they navigated the devastation of the AIDS epidemic while losing many friends around them. Jack’s sudden death from cancer in 2018 left John grieving not only his partner, but what felt like half of his own identity. Years later, John returned to painting, reconnecting with the creativity they had shared and finding a way to carry Jack’s memory forward through his art.