About Tristan Bernardo

Tristan Bernardo was born in Edmonton, Alberta and was raised in a secluded town in the country named Vegreville, Alberta. Vegreville is predominantly a Caucasian town. Tristan is biracial. He is Filipino and Caucasian; however, Tristan is also a Pansexual and Transgender. Vegreville is also a town that does not approve of diversity. To say less, Tristan had a rough time growing up. Tristan was made to feel like they should reject their Asian heritage. They were known as “The Asian.” Growing up in a town where no one looked like Tristan became very difficult as he matured. Not only did no one look like them, but they also could not relate to anyone culturally and ideologically. From the age of ten, Tristan knew they were not straight. Tristan was bullied for the colour of his skin and, on top of that, his sexual orientation. By the time Tristan reached Highschool, it became a means to survive to suppress his Sexual orientation and preferred gender. From the moment Tristan entered high school, he felt that he was born into the wrong body. He always felt like a she. However, Tristan wanted to play sports. In the old-fashioned religious country town that he lived in to play for either a men’s or women’s basketball team as a transgender person would not be possible due to the school’s old policy of people of transgender and sports. Said rule was removed. However, the ideology was never removed from the minds of the players and coaches/management. It would have been impossible to be trans or gay or lesbian, or anything different than what was deemed normal to survive at said high school, let alone play sports on a team that represented the school. Tristan sacrificed his identity to survive and pursue his dreams. He pretended to be normal to fit in rather than be happy in his skin. Tristan is now in his third year at the University of Lethbridge, pursuing a degree in Fine Arts in New Media degree and a degree in Bachelor of Management in Marketing. Tristan’s upbringing has shaped his creativity. His identity as a child was suppressed and as an adult living in Lethbridge, Alberta, his expression of his identity comes out in his art.