Creatives — Yana Ofrasio

Identifying today as a creative collaborator, Yana Ofrasio is using principles from her practice of abstract art as a tool for creative placemaking. Beyond the medium of paper and canvas, she sees the abstract as a way for individuals to better communicate and express intangible concepts such as emotions, aspirations, and motivations. Initiating sit-downs and discussions, while integrating principles from her practice of the abstract, Yana hopes to foster vulnerability in the way people interact and relate to each other.

In our conversation, we spoke about her relationship with vulnerability, the values of empathy and openness that go hand in hand with it, and lessons from allowing its presence to flow through her approach of the abstract.

I know you as an abstract art painter. May I know what other practices you have been doing? 

I stopped identifying myself as a visual artist. I haven’t been painting lately. I think with the label “visual artist”, you can imagine what they do. Right now, I can’t put structure around what I have been doing. So, I am going to use the term “creative collaborator”. I am a creative collaborator that uses abstract art as a tool for creative placemaking.

I have an abundance of vulnerability and I use it to shape the spaces and places I inhabit. I have been placing myself in places that I think could use a little bit of an abstract art approach such as when dealing with concepts like emotions, aspirations, and motivations. Long story short, I am using the concept that I used to do when painting abstract art and applying them to real-life, with how I interact with the world. 

You mentioned that vulnerability is a big part of you today. I wonder, what is your relationship with it? How does it flow into your practice today?

I learned how to share how I see the world. I opened myself up and I didn’t know that I was actively becoming more articulate in verbalizing my emotions. It became easier to talk about everything and eventually, open up platforms for exchange of conversations and ideas. 

People aren’t always ready to be vulnerable. But if you can show them that they can, they’ll be able to do it themselves. 

When I host workshops, we create abstract art. You can’t expect everybody to open up immediately. But people do become vulnerable when they are faced with the artwork that they made, even if they do not understand it. They will be like, “This is me.”

The abstract is a tool that can help open up one’s awareness. What they can abstractly express on paper or canvas can help them articulate their inner self. They learn how to talk about their work, ergo learn how to talk about what they feel. 

And what has this practice taught you about yourself and the world around you? 

That you can be confident in failing often because it is proof that you are growing. Doing the abstract exposed me to different situations and taught me not to be scared that I’ll get lost in it. It taught me to be flexible. Whether I win, fail, try, or stay the same, alone or with people, it has given me a core. I am going to be me wherever you put me and I am not going to apologize for it.