Salut! Homage To Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice
12 AM, NIGHT (Nothing is Impossible with God in Helping Thee)
Oil on Canvas, 2019
60.96 Centimeters x 60.96 Centimeters 24 Inches x 24 Inches
12 AM NIGHT, In relation to the Merchant of Venice, I'm focusing on the relationship between the protagonists. It fascinates me how they showed loyalty, trust, and grace especially to the scenes of Antonio and Bassanio. I want to dedicate a piece of work that signifies that great bond of characters into a composition that reflects my eulogy letter and how I felt with the sudden passing of Julita, My adoptive mother.
My Mom, Julita is the symbol archetype "The Mother" from Carl Jung's Archetypes of women to me. She was a mother to everyone in our family. She is a responsible daughter to her mother, Anci, as a lot of foreigners during World war II call our grandmother, which we call Nanay. She’s a mother-like to her siblings aside from Nanay, As she was the eldest daughter. My mom told me in one of her many stories that she took care of her younger siblings back when they were still young. One that I recall is pinapaliguan nya sila sa poso sa San Jose, ang ineeskoba nya yung likod nung isa sa kanila kasi ang daming libag daw haha.. because she is the ate and Nanay always trust her that she'll look after her siblings.
She and her sisters served Nanay until she passed away. Even after Nanay was not present being the eldest, she always take time to visit her siblings and helped out if one of them has troubles or sick. She is a wife to my dad, Cesar. She has the longest patience that I praise her for that because she always look after our dad even if my dad is being difficult. She is a mother to my siblings Maria Paz, Maria Pilar, and Juan Miguel. She is so proud of her children, not a day pass by that she is always thinking about their well-being. Cooking for us, washing our clothes, decorating our house, thinking about what are we going to eat for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. taking care of us when we are sick. and always telling us I love you through her actions even saying sorry through it. She is a straightforward person and very careful with her words when she says things she meant it. and she always meant well. Before she passed away. She told me that she loves us very much, she said that she is proud of my Ate because she sacrificed so much, she misses my Kuya a lot and always thinking about him and his family. She is proud of my Ditse and always thinks and worries about her because she is living alone in Boston and she always gets sick. She taught me to be tough, to not go down in life without a fight. because she is a fighter. and that's why I'm also feisty and she does not like it when I whine about the wrong decisions I decided for my life. because life is tough. and we learn from it. She always says that you can never please everybody. So you learn how to get along and have a lot of patience with everyone. She taught me to respect and always believe in the goodness of everyone even if they aren't being good to you. She taught me forgiveness and always give it to those who need it or even to those who don't ask for it. because life is not a one-way road but a two-way road. She taught me to be grateful for whatever little thing I have and always share it. because sharing is caring. Always treat people the same because you don't know what other people go through. Everything is taught through actions, gestures, and small talks in the car, or when we are waiting for her turn to the doctor in Alfonso Clinic at Mercedes Pasig. She is my biggest fan of my art-making. She will be the first one who will say that you’re going to sell that cause it’s beautiful.
