Bethany LeBerthon

Capstone Project: Bahay ni Nanay

"Bahay ni Nanay", “mom’s house” in Tagalog, is a 4-story dollhouse that was designed solely using interviews from the artist’s mother, Salvacion, and her siblings. Each floor is a miniature recreation of a house or apartment that the family lived in from Salvacion’s birth in Hong Kong, through her immigration to London and Manila, to settling in Los Angeles. The moveable furnishings in each room set the stage for retelling important family stories, while also allowing flexibility for the ever-changing details that shift with each new narrator. Bahay ni Nanay explores the idea of generational memory through the forms of storytelling and play, and questions our ability to archive family history in unconventional ways. 

What inspired your project?

This project was inspired by the grief of losing a loved one and the anxiety that inevitably emerges about who will be lost next. I found that photos and spoken stories were unable to capture the spirit of someone whose life was so vivid and complex. "Bahay ni Nanay" was an attempt to capture my love for my mother and her siblings, whose care has been a guiding force throughout my life and through my grief. While I've found that even art objects can't cure the anticipation anxiety, my dollhouse has given me a (literal) platform for sharing joy and nostalgia with my family in the living present.

Bio

Bethany LeBerthon is a multidisciplinary artist whose work is rooted in prose, props, and performance, with a focus on how physical objects can hold and transmit meaning. They are especially interested in the ways storytelling lives in everyday materials and how processes like crafting, research, and reenactment can be used to question dominant histories while also amplifying underrepresented narratives. Drawing from their background in theater and performance studies, they approach objects not as static artifacts but as living tools that invite interaction, play, and reinterpretation.

Their work is underscored by explorations of identity and social mobility and is guided by a commitment to the Queer and Filipino communities that have shaped them. Following graduation, they will work as a properties apprentice at Pacific Conservatory Theatre in Santa Maria, California. They hope to continue creating work that serves and brings joy to others.