Today we’d like to introduce you to Leila Bohn
Hi Leila, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I am Brazilian and have been living in Raleigh, developing my creative work in my own studio for the past five years. Like many foreigners, we came to this city for professional reasons—not for my own projects, but due to the professional challenge that arose for my husband. Additionally, we wanted to be closer to our children, who were already in the U.S. for their studies.
I believe that my restless way of being in the world and my curiosity to look beyond my own backyard were fundamental drivers for making this decision to live in the US. Was it easy? Not at all! I had already left the city and state where I was born and completed my education as an artist. I ventured out and built a life in the largest, most plural, and pulsating city in Brazil. Taking on a new change would be yet another opportunity for expansion and learning.
We arrived in Raleigh, carrying with us some personal items, our heads full of memories, and our hearts filled with the many voices telling us, “Come back soon, you will be greatly missed here!” I brought with me some cards on which my artist friends and other very special people had stamped words of affection for me to use as a support to paint whenever the longing became too intense. In this way, my art would serve as a means to keep our connections strong. It is a way to materialize the memories and feelings that were deeply embedded in my being.
We began organizing our new home, found other Brazilians who became our family here, and I started studying English. At that moment, it was crucial for me to immerse myself in my creative universe, as it helped me maintain my balance.
During this time, I have been working intensively in the US and frequently traveling to Brazil, where I still participate in study groups with other artists and exhibitions. The connection with Brazil is so visceral for me that I continue to be a member of the Casa345 Collective – São Paulo, BR – an artistic nucleus that provides space to produce, teach, and share art. In this group, I find partnership and support to carry out my creative processes, and occasionally, I develop courses and workshops.
My work in visual arts also bears the imprint of the experiences I had while coordinating and guiding the arts department at Escola Viva Arte Expressão in São Paulo, Brazil. For nearly three decades at the helm of this project, I was able to facilitate learning experiences in the languages of Visual Arts, Dance, Circus, and Music for children, teenagers, and adults. I can say that my sensitivity and perspective were profoundly nurtured by the relationships established in this dynamic exercise of learning while teaching.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
When we moved to the U.S. I imagined that English would be my biggest challenge. However I recognize today that understanding the culture, finding and becoming part of research local groups in art have been obstacles as great as mastering the English language. My goal is to strengthen my connections with local artists and institutions, marketing myself as an artist in the U.S. I hope to be fully integrated soon into this community.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
It is through acrylic painting, watercolor, and the integration of collage, original photography, and drawing that I find the tools to express my way of seeing and being in the world. Colors, gestures, textures, and shapes are the visual elements that captivate me. My work navigates between construction and deconstruction, between comfort and discomfort. I want my work to encourage reflection on what we are given to be/do and what we actually are/do. In this way, it suggests a break from the stereotypical ways in which we often conceive and look at art and ourselves.
Since I moved to the United States, I have increasingly used painting surfaces produced in my home country, such as handmade banana fiber paper. This is yet another way to incorporate elements of my history and emotional memories into my art.
My artistic work has moved toward expressing a feeling of not belonging, of being on the margins, of feeling seen as an outsider. And from this particular place where I find myself, I hear the muffled voice of many minorities in our (still) patriarchal, conservative, and prejudiced society.
I want my artwork to be an invitation to awaken new sensations, instigate the look, promote reflections and new connections. I want my work to be enjoyed over and over again and, each time, it touches the viewer differently. I hope my art, when revisited, can always offer some new detail to keep the flame of conversation between my art and those who admire it. I offer my work as a possibility to open a window to utopia.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://leilabohnarts.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/leilabohnarts/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/leila.bohn
