Artist Bernadette Despujols chronicles the immigrant experience from a personal perspective.
WRITTEN BY SEBASTIAN PHILLIPS
As topics go, the themes of Miami-based artist Bernadette Despujols’ body of work couldn’t be timelier. The Venezuela native’s vivid imagery focuses on the emotional complexities of immigration and offers a glimpse into her lived experiences and those of countless others displaced by political turmoil. That idea fuels “Viva La Vida,” a summer exhibition (through June 30) at Spinello Projects gallery that’s rooted in her journey from South America to the United States, featuring paintings that address the tensions of leaving one’s homeland, raising children in a foreign country, and navigating the duality of nostalgia and adaptation.
Sebastian Phillips: Immigration is such a hot-button issue these days, perhaps more than ever before. What is it like to see the theme of your work on the daily news?
Bernadette Despujols: It’s both surreal and heartbreaking. It underscores how urgent and real these issues are.
SP: Is “Viva La Vida” your response to the current stance on immigration?
BD: No, the timing is a coincidence. I had already been working on these pieces before the current administration’s response became a central topic. However, the themes of the paintings—identity, displacement, and resilience—naturally resonate with what’s happening today.
SP: What’s your own immigration story?
BD: I moved to the U.S. about 10 years ago to pursue my master’s degree at CalArts. Since then, I’ve mostly encountered kindness and generosity. America is my home now. That’s why it’s especially painful to witness how immigrants are being treated today. I truly believe most Americans don’t support the cruelty we are seeing.
SP: Ultimately, your works are all about people. What inspired them?
BD: We’re often led to believe abstract ideas, like the economy, matter more than tangible realities. But for me, it’s essential to pause and reflect on what truly matters: human beings. I consider myself a humanist, and my art is my way of honoring people’s dignity, struggles, and resilience.
SP: Who are the subjects in your paintings?
BD: I’ve portrayed members of my own family, as well as families from Venezuela who have crossed the Darien Gap—the dangerous route between Colombia and Panama that hundreds of thousands of immigrants use to reach the United States.
SP: Why did you decide to do that?
BD: To show that what connects us isn’t just our shared homeland or the fact that we’re immigrants; it’s the deep, unwavering commitment to our loved ones.
SP: The iguana is a recurring image throughout your work. What is its significance?
BD: Iguanas resemble these mythical, dragon-like creatures, but they’re also considered invasive, much like immigrants. In a way, they represent motherhood: a wild, primal force rooted in instinct, yet quietly existing within our everyday domestic lives.
SP: What’s the message you hope people walk away with after seeing your work?
BD: I hope they understand that anyone, at any point in life, can become an immigrant. My great-grandfather left France to escape conflict and poverty, and at that time, Venezuela had a booming economy. He built a great life there. Many years later, it was I who had to escape political repression.
bernadettedespujols.com | spinelloprojects.com
