El Baúl de Recuerdos y Maravillas
Project Statement
El Baúl de Recuerdos y Maravillas symbolizes Yara's commitment to her mother's well-being, ensuring a smooth transition and fostering emotional support during this significant life change. With careful consideration of her mother's preferences, El Baúl de Recuerdos y Maravillas provides "rooms" for her cherished belongings, empowering her to share stories, engage with others, and maintain a sense of identity within the senior community. Moreover, this design grants Yara's mother the individuality to arrange her belongings as she desires, transforming the narrative of this piece and imbuing a sense of control over her new life and environment within the senior community.
Designed not only to alleviate feelings of loneliness and isolation but also to provide a sense of familiarity within her new space, her room in the senior community, El Baúl de Recuerdos y Maravillas promotes social interactions, it helps trigger memories and keeps the mind active, while also providing a peaceful space for finding comfort. By infusing elements of her mother's life experiences, travel memories, and family recollections, Yara has created a piece that not only enhances her mother's mental health but also encourages meaningful connections with loved ones, senior residents, and staff members.
Artist Bio
As a designer and maker, Yara Bertran threads vibrant stories from her Mexican lineage with experiences living in the United States. Her studio practice focuses on meaningful engagements between materials and narratives.
Yara has a degree in graphic design and worked for advertising agencies in Mexico before moving to San Diego, California, where she volunteered for art institutions focusing on community-based projects. Her experiences with art and community projects motivated her to enroll in the San Diego Mesa College Museum Studies program. Upon graduation, she worked as an educator in community engagement at the San Diego Museum of Art and the Museum of Photographic Arts, which informed the values of her creative practice and created a deep appreciation for the connection between art and community.
The MFA in Applied Craft and Design program marked a critical milestone for Yara. Working with book arts, screen-printed patterns, and woodworking reignited her creativity.
