Meet Camila Pernisco | Writer & Artist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Camila Pernisco and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Camila, where are your from? We’d love to hear about how your background has played a role in who you are today?
I was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. My parents provided me with a childhood filled with open dialogue, creative expression, and exploration. I find that nowadays a lot of my artistic and academic ventures reflect that state of being – one in which I can really dive deep to understand my self and the environments around me.

As of late, I’ve been existing bicoastally, splitting time between my hometown and New York City, where I am an undergraduate student at The New School’s Eugene Lang College of Liberal Arts. Because my parents so willingly raised me with both the arts and academia, I decided to pursue a career path that intersects text, like nonfiction writing and poetry, with visual components, like video, collage, or drawing. I’ve been expressing myself creatively my entire life and it just feels so rewarding to have had the opportunity to forge a career path based off of my passions.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
For the last few years, I’ve become very centered on embracing the book as art object. My work, as previously mentioned, is really focused on the self, so the content I produce tends to be reflective of my experiences: those of girlhood, a Californian upbringing, and womanhood within the Latino community. I’m fascinated by the ways in which I can better understand relationships within oneself and others through creative representation and exploration.

Typically, I develop writing projects with very thoughtful, intimate visual components. I’ve had the opportunity to assemble creative book projects in my own time, like ‘Ruminations,’ a book compiled of scans of ephemera, creative nonfiction essay, poetry, and illustration. It’s like a little time capsule of my 19th year.

At first, I was sort of bouncing around artistic mediums, particularly film, but hadn’t been able to establish a very solid community that was producing work that resonated with me. But luckily, as I transitioned more towards writing and the book arts, I became very invested in the independent publishing and art book scene. Since doing so, I’ve been able to participate in exhibitions like the Print Pomona Art Book Fair and plan future projects with like-minded collaborators.

Moving forward, I want to further establish my book arts community. I am hoping to expand Go West, a small press I started in 2021. There, I’m able to practice creative direction and critical thinking. Most excitingly, I’m leading a student committee at my university to orchestrate our school’s first Art Book Fair for spring 2024.

I’m hoping that all this experience and effort in cultivating my own artist archive will result in a larger communal project. Following graduation, I think it would be very cool to construct a non-circulating artists’ book library that can represent, exhibit, preserve, and support the work of my creative community.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Los Angeles has my heart and I think it’s totally because of how it makes me feel really calm and centered within myself. That being said, I’d encourage exploring really meditative spaces like the Huntington Library and Botanical Gardens, the Self-Realization Fellowship up in Mount. Washington, or the Hollyhock House in Barnsdall Art Park. Recently, I’ve been regularly recommending Hauser & Wirth, a gallery with a location in the Arts District. They have a beautiful courtyard and always have really intriguing work on show as well as an adjacent bookstore. If you’re at Hauser & Wirth, visit Maru Coffee in the neighborhood as well – I highly recommend their iced matcha with sweetened cream or their Bon Bon espresso.

The Northeast LA region and San Gabriel Valley is very special to me in particular. I recommend snacks and cocktails at Capri Club and dinner at Golden Deli, Joy, or La Cabañita, a Mexican restaurant my mom has been going to since she was in college. Sunset drives through the surrounding hillsides are an essential. Take in the views of LA architecture, the lingering smell of jasmine flowers, and tap into your inner Eve (Babitz).

As a book girly, I also really encourage visiting local book spaces too: Tomorrow Today, Des Pair Books, North Figueroa Bookshop, Heavy Manners Library, Skylight, Other Books, and The Pop Hop. Definitely keep an eye out on local arts events too, I always feel so lucky to be in town while things like the Acid-Free Art Book Market and the LA Art Book Fair are in session.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I would love to shoutout Kate Caruso. Kate Caruso is the co-founder of pois é, a Los Angeles-based publication that very graciously granted me my first internship the summer after my freshman year of college. Kate provided me with the opportunity to assist in the publication process of a few poetry books that summer. I was given the chance to explore design, communications, and learn so much about the technical and artistic intersections of publishing. With Kate’s guidance, I truly began to establish what I now believe to be a life-long interest in the book form. I had always admired books growing up and was obsessed with spaces like libraries and artists’ studios, but the hands-on opportunity at pois é gave me a different method of understanding the form.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/camila.pernisco/

Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/camila-pernisco1303

Other: https://www.instagram.com/gowest_press/

Image Credits
Hanabi Copon