ArtistManuel Morquecho
Transition
Date2015
MediumDigital chromogenic print
Dimensions28 x 22 in. (71.1 x 55.9 cm)
Framed Size: 39 1/2 x 33 in. (100.3 x 83.8 cm)
Credit LineDC Commission on the Arts and Humanities Art Bank Collection
Object numberDCCAH2016.054
ClassificationsPhotographs
Locations
- Office of Veterans Affairs (441 4th Street NW, 707N)
DescriptionIn Transition, a mother is trying to provide solace to her son whom she knows will soon die. The mother is Morquecho’s mother and the son is his younger brother. A month before cancer took Morquecho’s brother’s life, he asked him and his mother to pose for their final portrait together. Morquecho’s brother is resting his body on his mother’s lap and she is caressing the man to whom she gave birth but now must see through his final days. In this image, there is sadness—the certainty of an imminent loss of a life – and the beauty of Morquecho’s mother’s compassion and love as she holds the plastic bag that has collected the poisonous liquids drained from his body, and as she hopes and asks for a little more time with her son behind what seems to be a crying wall.
