WIRACOCHA Sculpture

ARTIST STATEMENT ​ By virtue of my background in spirituality and mysticism, my creative process begins with radical embodied awareness and deep contemplation to allow inspiration and energy to flow. My work is spirit-led and I am simply a vessel taking action to intuitively and organically construct the object. With this free-form approach to creating, I am able to remain unfettered from self-limiting perceptions and to expand into limitless possibilities in my creative process. ​ ARTIST BIOGRAPHY Yanina Camenschic Salerno was born in Montevideo, Uruguay in 1977. She and her family migrated to Atlanta, Georgia just before her fifth birthday, where she would spend the next 27 years of her life. It was through influences from her grandfather, a prized inventor with an inspiring connection to the natural world, and her mother, a mystic and tarot reader, that she would discover her life’s work. With interests such as Re-Wilding, Deep Ecology and Eco-spirituality, Yanina Salerno Designs’ mission is to inspire community to ethically and compassionately reconnect and heal relations with our more-than-human world by co-creating nature-inspired, sacred, sentient objects that serve as medicine pieces, or Artes- an embodiment of non-physical primal energies. In support of her mission, Yanina has carefully and intentionally curated an experience, BioForest Restore, which offers participants an opportunity to be guided into the forest for healing and relationship-tending with the more-than-human world. Yanina has earned a Diploma in Metals at Haywood Community College, is a certified Sivananda Yoga and Meditation teacher, holds a Body-N-Balance Pilates certification, is a Reiki healer, a Pachakuti Mesa Cross-Cultural Shamanism apprentice, a formally educated Naturalist and is currently working towards the highly regarded North Carolina Environmental Education Certification. Yanina is now working out of her home studio where she resides, in the majestic, ancient mountains of Asheville, North Carolina.