Mother

Nanay. Oil on Canvas. 36 x 48 inches

This is my submission for Monday Artday. It is called "Nanay", the Hiligaynon or Ilonggo language term for "Mother". Ilonggo children call ther mothers "Nanay" which I did throughout my mother's life. This is the first painting after I arrived in the U.S. This is an impression of my mother shown here with my eldest sister and brother. This would have been the time when the Japanese occupied the Philippines, before I was born but became familiar with because of my mother's constant retelling of the atrocities of war and the lessons learned. My mother wears a patadyong, a wrap native to only five provinces and only two of the more than 5,000 islands in the Philippines.