Juliana Bernal´s work proposes a series of relationships based on the vital experience to be a mother. Through the exercise of folding and weaving paper into modulations, volumes and geometric, it gives us the affective language of care between mother and son. These forms show the viewer the experience of bonding and recollection, awakening a kinetic effect that suggests cyclical or spiral movements.
The cycle is a concept about the Juliana’s work as a symbol of the circle of life and its incessant gravitation on individuals. Her compositions are defined by the rhythm sequences and color gradations. This visual language is the result of her emotional development and the conscious exploration of her place as a mother.
Juliana’s artistic practice is a consequence of her gestation experience and in the different sensible transformations and a perception of her own subject as an organism bonded with another human being in a share environment. A fundamental presence in her work is the symbolic evocation of the nest and its protection and limitation of the intimate space, a language that in turn was poured into the subsequent training and therapeutic process with her son. ‘Los Nidos’ artwork synthesizes her journey through the awareness and understanding of motherhood as a creation of life, not only in a biological sense but also as a social and cultural process. The figure of the mother lies at the heart of the work as the primordial essence and support of human growth. ‘Nidos’ as visual chromatic structures suggest notions of safety shelter and comfort.
Color is also a principal factor in Juliana’s work, since the way it is arranged and combined in each piece responds to a psychological purpose that immerses the viewer in the moods that have inspired the work. The artist has defined a color palette whose properties induce an immersive experience. Her work is crossed by primary tones that allude to the origin and force of life: yellow and gold that suggest light, value and beauty. Blue representing harmony and fidelity and red which remember vitality and joy. These nuances are complemented by earthy tones that speak of roots cozy and natural. White which symbolize spiritual, new begins and the renewal.
Juliana Bernal’s work asks about ¿How to be a mom? as an inseparable and dominant connection between mother and son from the moment of conception and highlights each of the experiential stages that define this process in her plastic exploration. The visual form from color matter and the composition merges with the conceptual roots of the work, insofar as this folded and woven paper – at the same time docile and firm by the gesture – invokes the experience of dedication and rooting. The narrative thread of motherhood ultimately challenges us as a subjects in the search for our own connection with our origins and our most closed spaces with our own affective tissues stimulated by the reflection of plots, rhythms and paper paths.