Magdalena  Arguelles

Ancestral Elegy

 

Shortly after my father passed away, I came across a stack of treasured black

and white photographs of his own father's funeral. My grandfather, Dionisio Arguelles, died unexpectedly in the mid-

1960's. Because he was a well respected captain of the police force in Iloilo City, Philippines, his funeral was an official affair and well attended.

 

Over the years whenever these pictures were taken out, my father would show us the photograghs and a story would inevitably follow.

These paintings are a response to the memory of my grandfather's funeral and the countless stories that followed over the years that my father told his children or whoever cared to listen.