Meet Brianna Saranchock | Brisueña, Multidisciplinary Artist

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

Hi Brianna, where are your from? We’d love to hear about how your background has played a role in who you are today?
My fascination with magic, divination, and spirituality started with my mother. Desperate for answers, stuck in a tumultuous marriage, single with four children, I watched as my mom shuffled cards and consulted psychics. I became obsessed with it too, begging her to take me to psychics, and she did. Multiple times. I remember going to their houses to have one-on-one readings. The experience itself was more than just a tarot reading. I was being exposed to a spiritual side of Puerto Rico that surpasses Catholicism. It felt like a secret—a little peephole into a foundation of our national culture. The rooms where the readings took place were covered with all sorts of figurines, candles, jewelry, fruits, candy, you name it. Some psychics leaned into darker imagery, while others were lighter, using the archangels and crystals as a foundation. Some psychics immersed New Age with Santeria, while others held solely to Catholic ideas. This was another world, different and more private than church on Sundays with my grandmother. It captured the syncretism and mix of cultures that has resulted from the subjugation of imperialism. It’s a conservation of African, Spanish, and Taino heritage, in some instances more vivid than the food or the language.
I loved everything about it. I loved the freedom that came with it. The way each psychic pulled different spiritual beliefs and made it their own. And I especially loved the conversations that happened regarding the afterlife and spirits. There is nothing more mysterious than death. As an artist, I am fascinated by how subtle our lives are. In exploring this question, I find patterns to my life, and I learn about my own human biases. This is the basis of all of my work— what ties everything together regardless of the art form that I’m using. When it comes to death, our understanding of it is based on feeling.
As Brisueña, I use these experiences and esoteric tools not as a way of interpreting my future but as a way of breaking down my own life—my frustration at being categorized into societal, racial, or sexual boxes. And lastly, I use it as a way of exposing the internal world I withdrew in as a child. In my performances and visual stories, my characters reveal that in the end we are all idiots, dreaming and desperate for a better life, grasping endlessly for love. No matter where you come from or who you are or what you are good at, you will never know when you’ll die. Death is the only thing we all have in common.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
My journey hasn’t been linear or easy. The biggest challenge I had to overcome was getting over myself. Being an artist is like walking with an open wound, exposed for everyone to see. That takes a lot of courage. And courage is something I lacked before I did theatre. I remember having this intense desire to be an auteur when I moved to Los Angeles from Puerto Rico. I wanted to be that director with a visual language so unique everyone sees them as an auteur. But I was so shy. So withdrawn and scared. Because of this, the stage at Los Angeles City College (LACC) was a blessing to me. I went from having no sense of self to understanding how to speak to the back of the room, stay centered in my body, utilize rhythm to emote, and how to get an audience’s reaction. Following my graduation from LACC’s theater program, I got an internship with Center Theatre Group (CTG) and met Patricia Garza. Then boom: the pandemic happened. With theatres closed, this set me on the path to where I am now. It was through my CTG internship where I learned what “multidisciplinary” truly means. And I had a mentor in Patricia who guided me and taught me that there are people who do multiple artforms and are successful. The world became my oyster. It enabled me to reconnect with my dream of being an auteur while still holding on to who I am as a performer. So, I went back to school at UCSB and that’s where I met Shana Moulton. I circled back to film and gained skills as a video artist. And Brisueña, who I started to create during the pandemic, finally came to the surface.
I’m so proud to have created an experimental dance film, Clima, which made it into the Alternative Film Fest in Toronto, the Mobile Dance Film Festival, and the Great Film Club. But I’m even more proud of the series I completed last year, Brisueña’s Major Arcana, which expanded from six videos which were shown at the Art, Design and Architecture Museum in Santa Barbara to twenty-two videos which I exhibited at All Together Now LA. And this year, I’m happy to share that I will have one of them as a print at the Hive Gallery.
This series is a great representation of what sets me apart from others and how I will continue to grow in my brand and story. I utilized an esoteric tool that I love—the tarot—to explore deeper parts of myself, my family archive, and my role in this world. Through it, I was able to unite different artforms (collage, performance, animation, and digital art) through one medium (video). This is the route I want to continue developing myself in. As the director or performer of my work, I will continue to use surrealist and esoteric subjects to bring out the controversies of our own lives.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
There is so much to do in LA! So much history. That’s what makes it special. Coming from Puerto Rico, I think one of the first things I discovered in LA that I love the most is seeing modern films at vintage cinemas like Los Feliz Theatre. One of my favorite things to do is go to the movies and, before or after, skim through books at Skylight Books. Being a resident at an art studio in Downtown LA has also opened the door to cool spots that anyone who visits should check out. There’s of course the Grand Central Market, rooftops like Broken Shaker, the Broad Museum, and the Last Bookstore. And if you are ever in the Arts District and want to have tacos that capture LA culture, check out Guerrilla Tacos! I also love love love going to Funky Soul at El Cid on Saturdays. And on Sundays you can find my partner and I at All Day Baby enjoying brunch.

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?
My success wouldn’t be possible without Patricia Garza or Shana Moulton. I’ve learned a lot of things from different people who’ve seen my potential and have taught me essential things about the world, but these two gave me advice that solidified my dreams into reality. Patricia helped me realize that there are plenty of opportunities out there for artists. I broke out of the mentality that art is a hobby and she helped me accept my multidisciplinary approach. Through her mentorship, I realized that the best artists know what they are. Since then, I have hyper focused on discovering what I represent and care for.
Additionally, hearing Shana at an Art Seminar at the University of California, Santa Barabara (UCSB) inspired me in ways I thought I would never be inspired again. After living in Los Angeles for eight years I had grown out of the excitement I felt for cinema. I began to feel like people I met were more concerned about getting into the industry than the magic of film (what I first fell in love with: film as an art). I thought I would never feel passion for anything again until I learned about Shana’s career as a video artist and performer. It was as if a light bulb turned on. Having her as a professor taught me so much about experimental video and how to utilize yourself as a part of the piece. Through her, I gained video skills that opened the doors for me to express my own stories and ideas. I was also able to bring to the table everything I had learned in theatre and film that I thought I wasn’t passionate about anymore. It reconnected me to that 19-year-old self with big hopes and dreams.

And lastly, I want to give a shoutout to All Together Now LA for giving me a space to make art and connecting me to an inspiring community of artists.

Website: https://briannasaranchock.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/briannasaranchock?igsh=YzVkODRmOTdmMw%3D%3D&utm_source=qr

Other: https://www.alltogethernow.la/residents

Image Credits
third image (white wall, black dress): Logan Le Luc insta – @loganalog