Sunset 38 by Jorge Luis Bernal

Can a landscape-or for that matter, just colors and a few lines on a page-invite you to think of life and death? In the deepest sense, that is the task that architect-turned-artist Jorge Luis Bernal wishes to accomplish. In his art, he asks the big questions: "Where are we in life? Where are we going? What do we want to accomplish? What is important to us?" (see https://vimeo.com/121815356). Elaborating further, he comments that "we all encounter problems in our journey through life; we all have problems that we need to weather. There are mountains, bridges, and fences that we need to hurdle." In his vertically organized paintings, it is the horizontals-how we encounter those problems or overcome them-that describe the ways in which we walk through life toward our own horizons. He sees these paintings as narratives. "It never ends," he says. "There's always something to go to." Bernal's reflections seem particularly fitting for this special issue of American Psychologist, with its focus on youth development and the barriers and accomplishments of youth experiencing marginalization in particular

Optics · Physics · Sunset · Comparative Literary Analysis and Criticism · Latin American Literature Studies · Psychology · Spanish Culture and Identity