Yearning for Wholeness

The first piece in this series, Family (2013), shows three faces, mother, father, and child, connected in the shape of a heart. A decade later, I returned to it while processing the loss of my mother in 2020 and almost losing my father in 2021.

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Revisiting it became a search for balance and healing—a way to fill the spaces left by grief. The new works, Padre (2023), Madre (2023), and Hijo (2024), continue that story. The heart remains, but now there are empty spaces, halos where loved ones once were.

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When I finished Madre, I cried. It is for my mother, a beautiful woman who always looked radiant in red, so I made her halo that color. In my culture, we honor our dead during Día de los Muertos, using the color and scent of marigolds to call their spirits back to the earth. Each of these pieces carries marigolds woven into their halos, guiding our loved ones home to us.

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These works hold love, memory, and connection through every texture and hue. I take my time with each one. It has to feel right, it has to feel whole.