Today, June 14, is your birthday 88. ❤️🙏🏻
This year, I celebrate you with a heart full of gratitude.
To see your memories, your chair, your patio, your tree, the roots embracing your house, the mango leaves now present at the Orlando Museum of Art
@orlandomuseumofart as part of the Florida Prize feels like having you close once again.
Happy birthday, my love, my Yiya.
I know you’re smiling from heaven, proud that your home is here.
I’m sharing the poem I write that connects deeply with the work created in your honor born from love, memory, and longing. Now these pieces live where others can feel your presence too.
Your chair is still there,
beneath the tree you planted,
the one that gave shade,
sweet mangoes, and now
embraces your house with its roots.
You don’t need to be here,
your soul walks through every room.
If the lights go out, you turn them on.
If the music stops,
the house keeps on sounding:
my grandfather’s radio,
the sewing machine,
the oxygen tank,
and the prayer that accompanied you before you left this plane.
Every corner remembers you,
every image celebrates you.
Your chair, like a throne,
connected to the tree,
still honors your presence.
Thank you,
@coralieccg and your team, for walking beside me through this beautiful journey and making this project possible.
Thank you,
@mariancaro.foto , for your incredible eye and sensitivity—you helped bring emotion and memory to life.
To my family and friends—Juan
@juanjhenriquez , Julian
@synthwave64_ , Fausto, Tia Nery
@agnerisbermudez , Lisbeth
@coqueta2 , Dainy
@art.seen.365 , Lito, and Lita thank you for being with me and helping make this final chapter unforgettable.
Bringing a piece of Cabimas here was the most incredible experience of the year.
With all my love,
💛
#FloridaPrize #OrlandoMuseumOfArt #InMemoryOfYiya #LatinxArt #FamilyLegacy #Cabimas #RootedInMemory #DiasporaVoices #recycledrope #weavingmemories #ImmigrantNarratives
Photographic credits: 🙏🏻
1–11
@zairephoto
12
@spectaclephoto
13
@mariancaro.foto 
