Meet April Bermudez | Artist and Storyteller

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

Hi April, what’s your definition for success?
Cognitive reframing can do a lot of work in terms of success and how you view it. If you view it right, anything can be considered a success. Finishing a to-do list can be success. Even failure can be successful if you rebound from it in a very proactive way. I think success is an individual idea, one’s own goal in the sense of what success might be. I don’t measure my success to any body else’s. My definition of success comes from being pleased with myself and my accomplishments. Instead of resting on laurels I think it’s good to have something else in mind that I can set my mind on and continue with succeeding. Anyone can get it right once and get things done once but being successful is continuing on with the effort and being consistent in your success.. It can’t be based on luck. It’s gotta be about seizing an opportunity when it comes your way, Bonus points if you create that opportunity.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
A few years ago, I took a step back and thought about the kind of art that I could make that no one else could and I came to the conclusion that the only thing that could truly come from only me were my stories. They could be told by others, my childhood days visiting family were always filled with stories of my mischievous adventures and nearly fatal encounters. But no one can tell the story from my perspective, from the point of view of that troubled girl, crying out for attention. I’ve told my story through photography, with portraits, and with paintings of incidents of disaster and drawings of the implements of mayhem. My memories, my recollections, a recording of cataclysmic events. I made friends with the dark too. I made a series that was full of grief, that I need to get back to. Because through all this creation, all this work that has been made. I began healing myself. I started making paintings with body movements, some would say it was referential to somatic art. I’m not sure what you could call it, I’m not really sure it’s up to me as an artist to label the art I create, that might have to be up to art historians, I just know that it made me feel free and healed in more ways than one.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
As long as I have lived in downtown Los Angeles, I tend to recommend to people, especially in the summertime, the Grand Performances. Those are always entertaining and they’re not just concerts. Their films and classical ensembles and plays. It really is a wonderful resource of creative energy. I also recommend in the summer any of the free events that happen there. There’s some stuff at Pershing Square. There’s some stuff over by the Disney concert hall too. There’s just so many things to do in the summer. The only real problem is having to settle on just one.

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?
First I would like to give a shoutout to Shoebox Arts and Kristine Schomaker. Through the international call and response collaborations, peer mentorship program, and workshops, I have become a better artist with clearer goals and have been surrounded by a community of like minded artists and creatives. My other shoutout has to be for my brother Julian Bermudez, the owner of Bermudez Projects, with past locations in DTLA and recently in NELA, he is now looking to future proof the project. It is for a more personal reason, but showing that it was possible to have a career based in the arts, for someone that came from our neighborhood of south central Los Angeles, he is a testament to perseverance and the importance of a healthy mindset.

Website: https://www.aprilbermudez.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aprilbermudezart

Image Credits
Personal photo by Louise Ahrendt
All other photos available by permission of the April Bermudez