The Passing of My Mother. An Unshared Photograph in Loving Memory .

Dominga Auxiliadora Perez Huerta

October 5, 1953 — March 30, 2026

I never shared this beautiful photo by Sion Fullana taken at my first art studio. The reason was because it made me feel as if I was holding the photo of a deceased loved one. Sadly, now I can share the photo as my mother has parted this world. It is a practice of Nicaraguans to canonize the dead. I don't share that practice. My mother wasn't perfect, she was a chameleon of life experiences and facets; and that made her interesting and three dimensional. Someone I wanted to know, dive into and write about. To many my mother was a hero. Her last two months on earth were quite painful, tragic but all so magical with the many things she talked about in her delirium. Even in her condition, she managed to make an impression with hospital staff, nurses and doctors. And it was a good one. She was a teacher in more ways than one. She didn't raise me to be devastated and taught me gratitude and resilience. To be like the bambu which during the storm may tilt but never break. Even if she had taught me to grieve, no one teaches you how to grieve your mother, and so that is my task now and the new lesson she has left me. I also kept only the love that I knew she had for me, because I felt it till our last conversation and in the ways she'd squeeze my hand when she was no longer able to speak. She died sorrounded by the people she loved, in song and prayers. Definitely gone too soon. She was my maternal expressionist and I am grateful for her life and mine.

Photo by Sion Fullana © The Plank, NJ Circa 2013