The self-taught artist emigrated to Guanacaste, Costa Rica, as a child. He has distinguished himself there as a painter and sculptor, and now as a maker of personalized prosthetic legs.
By Cindy Regidor (Confidencial)
HAVANA TIMES – He had sculpted animals, plants, fruits, and large figures; he had done high relief sculptures, but nothing like a leg. Hence Yeison Silva felt quite intimidated by the message he received from a former classmate.
His friend explained that he had lost his leg in an accident and needed a prosthesis. “Yeison, you make high-quality and very realistic sculptures, so why don’t you make me a prosthesis?” the message read. Yeison left it unanswered for some two or three months.
Then came the impulse and the determination to try: “Let’s do it. Let’s see how it comes out,” Yeison finally answered, without knowing that this would be the beginning of a new direction to his life: using his artistic talents to make personalized prostheses for the lower extremities.
His unique and high-quality designs have become sought-after in Costa Rica, which motivates him to perfect this work, creating new types of prostheses and designing low-cost models.
Yeison Silva is a self-taught painter and sculptor of Nicaraguan origin who resides in the Costa Rican city of Liberia. The city is located in Guanacaste, a province in northwest Costa Rica that borders with Nicaragua. The area is visited by hundreds of thousands of tourists every year, drawn to its beautiful beaches, volcanoes, and other natural attractions.
The story of this young man of 29 is the same tale of family and generational migration that has marked a large portion of the Nicaraguan population in Costa Rica. Originally from Leon, Nicaragua, he left the country in 2000 with his mother and siblings, all fleeing the abuses of his alcoholic father. His maternal grandmother had already settled in Sardinal de Carrillo, a small seaside town in Guanacaste province. His grandmother didn’t hesitate to invite Yeison’s mother to move there with the children and begin a new life.
That’s where Yeison grew up, surrounded and inspired by the natural abundance that characterizes Costa Rica. “It was another world …. the plants, the animals, the howler monkeys I saw all made an impression on me,” he recalls.
Yeison is grateful for the support and education he received as a child immigrant when he arrived there at six years old. He’s also grateful for his mother’s efforts to assure he got ahead, and for the state scholarships he received due to his good grades. These grants helped him finish his studies.
In addition to these factors, his teachers’ belief in him was decisive. “In school, we took art classes and there were drawing and painting contests. My teacher signed me up, because she knew I loved art. Feeling that you are part of something and that you’re admired for what you do makes you want to go higher and higher.” That’s how he grew up and began to mold himself into a self-taught artist.
The young entrepreneur
From the time he was in high school, Yeison e
