Brianna Lynn Hernández Baurichter

Milwaukee, Wisconsin

The U.S. tends to have difficulty confronting the realities of life as it relates to death and the process of dying, leaving many caregivers and the bereaved to feel isolated and shamed into silencing their grief and trauma. After becoming a caregiver and ultimately losing my mother to cancer, I have made an effort to break down this silence through my ongoing body of work, Anticipatory|Después (A|D).

A|D captures the complex layers of dying and grief through a caregiver’s eyes in the form of performative videos and installations. Each piece shares the physical and emotional affliction of the dying, the caregiver, and at times the two concurrently. By wearing my mother’s clothing and mimicking her gestures, I recreate memories of her and imagine what she may have been feeling while actively dying. Inspired by my background as a dancer, I use movement and repetition to embody and release psychological trauma of my own. Many of the objects seen in each video are brought into the installation process, creating vignettes for visitors to immerse themselves within.

A critical component of A|D has been researching and collaborating with other death workers across industries to inform educational and support resources. Interactive workshops combine this research with arts education and art therapy to create communal opportunities for healing through the safety of the creative process.

In making my own experience vulnerable, I invite others to share their stories and give further voice to these often muted realities. This honest story sharing offers insights for those close to caregivers and the bereaved while also making space for a more death positive and death prepared culture.

Emerging extensions of Anticipatory|Después include:

-Útiles Curativos, which treats common caregiver tools as sacred objects in order to reconsider their value within the difficult circumstances they are used. This treatment is done through gilding medical equipment with silver, gold, and copper leaf. Instead of unwanted medical waste, they become precious healing tools to help us better care for those we love. The elevation of these tools also reflects on the caregiver, reminding them of their own sacredness in this role.

-Aquí Descansamos, which presents an alternate form of memorial, contrasting the somber, grey-stone visuals of conventional cemeteries with color, growth, decomposition, and renewal in the form of a living cemetery. By crafting common gravestones with floral sculpture, this living cemetery offers a space to celebrate life’s vibrancy and beauty while acknowledging its temporary and ever-changing nature.

Brianna Lynn Hernández Baurichter is a Chicana artist, curator, and educator guided by socially-engaged practices. Her background includes experience working in community organizations, gallery, museum, and higher education settings, and as a consultant with public health researchers. In developing as an artist and creative professional Brianna credits her late mother, Sylvia D. Hernández, as her most significant mentor and inspiration for the creativity, resilience, and compassion she demonstrated throughout her life. Brianna’s creative practice and world-view is also influenced by her mixed heritage from Mexican and German parents, embodying the spirit of a hybrid, eager to form connections and build new realities.

In the studio, Brianna creates installations through several mediums including large-scale charcoal drawings, video art, sculpture, and performances, each incorporating a high level of physicality and movement to reveal knowledge held within the body. Brianna’s current body of work focuses on the experience of providing end-of-life care and subsequent grieving process. In addition to formal artworks, this body of work offers workshops and takeaway resources for viewers to self-educate through the safety of the creative process.

As a curator, Brianna works with artists to make socially-charged topics publicly accessible in order to create opportunities for education and empathy. This focus on empathy building is also embedded into her education philosophy whether in the classroom, workshops, or as a consultant, enabling deeper connections to the purpose and potential of the content. As an extension of this socially-conscious approach, Brianna frequently collaborates with community health researchers to incorporate the arts into collection and dissemination of public health project data.

Brianna is currently the Director of Cultural Transformation at the Milwaukee Artist Resource Network, where she is developing policy and community engagement initiatives to address equity and inclusion in the Greater Milwaukee Area arts community.