Guillermo Bert, an artist who was born in Santiago de Chile in 1959, was recently featured at the Nevada Museum of Art (NMOA), in Reno. Carson High School Heritage Spanish 2 students, who had previously studied the artist and some of his works, were able to visit the exhibition Wednesday, Jan. 31, 2024. Through their studies, the Carson High students knew from what perspective to observe Bert’s art including topics such as commercialism, indigenism, futurism, heritage and more.
In his art, Bert incorporates global problems and shows the great impact it has surrounding some communities, as well as immigration cases at the borders and some situations of people during the covid-19 pandemic. In several of his art pieces, Bert transmits messages through QR codes, barcodes and in the case of his work of people made in 3D, some can be scanned.
One of his pieces “La Bestia,” contains a QR code, which if scanned, reveals an audio presentation in which a person from Guatemala narrates his or her immigration experience. In this work, viewers can also observe the Hispanic culture due to the use of traditional material, colors and textures. This work reminds viewers of some traditional pieces of clothing from Latin countries.
One Carson High student noted in the exhibition, there was a part where there were tumbleweeds upon which videos of people were projected, who tell their experience and story about immigrating.
“As Hispanics, this made us think about our heritage and remember about our ancestors or past generations in how they achieved the American dream,” said Carson High School Spanish 2 Student Pedro Mata-Garcia. “And thanks to that today, we can learn about another culture and language apart from our culture and language of heritage.”
Aside from William Bert's exhibit, the tour guide, a fellow Hispanic and Spanish-speaker, took the students to look at other exhibits that showed a message about problems specific to communities and places.
The students learned about different cultures and types of art. They enjoyed a tour guide who, like them, spoke both English and Spanish. They enjoyed the works of all the artists, but they especially enjoyed the Hispanic artist challenging them to think in new ways. The trip left the students with some wise and beautiful memories that they will always have in mind.