July 24th - 13:37

Title: July 24th - 13:37 Medium: Super-8 film Aspect Ratio: 4:3 Resolution: 2880 x 2160 File Type: H.264 Codec / MP4. Comments: It was a family day. To find the balance between work and play, especially when doing an art project that requires to create every single day. The lines get blurred and it all becomes one. Art is work and work is life, therefore art is life! I have a lot of fun making art and get lost in the flow state. When you do what you love for work every day is playful. So spending it with my father is the greatest gift one can ask for. The last time I saw him was in Los Angeles for my Smoke and Mirrors art exhibition on March 23rd earlier in the year. It was the first time he visited California and the first time he and my sister came to one of my art shows. It was one of the happiest and proudest days of my life, when family acknowledges and supports your success. Everything feels right and aligned. Our first family vacation since I was a little boy when my mother was diagnosed with cancer while we were on our last family trip the four of us. This was a healing moment having them join me there. Here we are back in New York altogether again. My father, my sister, and me. Oh yes, I can't forget about the dog, Jaxon! Whom I named after Jackson pollack for all the painterly spots on his body when my sister first adopted him. Jaxon is a funny dog, he uses the pool more than the humans do. I like to joke with my dad that he keeps it clean for the dog to swim a few laps. The dog is truly man's best friend. I remember when my dad did not want any house pets, now he can't imagine a life without his companion. It's funny how things work out like that. I love my dad and we have been growing closer ever since my mother passed away ten years ago. When a death in the family happens it puts things in perspective. Wanting to know more, wanting to spend more time, wanting to share another meal of his secret Italian recipes. He is where I learned to cook! It is the smaller things you start to love and respect before they are gone and lost. I am grateful for my dad as he worked his whole life to give me a fulfilling one to pursue my dreams. His time and sacrifice in the kitchen doing what he loves and does best, serving good food to the community, basically becoming the mayor of Holbrook. He and my mom even met at a restaurant in the big city. All my life I was in the kitchen and restaurant business with both of my parents, and my sister. It was like a family business. I was a bit different though, anti-social at times and quite often reading books while on the job. Yes, I would get yelled at for not working, but I wanted something different. They supported me through college and supported my dreams, and now I can give back more than they gave me. Out of love and respect, to share my success with the family. We would visit my mother, Gabrielle, grave every Sunday that I visit. Hugging and crying and praying to mom wishing she was here with us again. To see how far we have come these past 10 years gone. One day during shooting Smoke and Mirrors back in 2018 I asked my dad if we can shoot his tarot portrait, the death card, at my mothers grave with him beside her with flowers. A symbol of life and death in a literal sense, but also a life after death... A connection to the spirit and material world as one. A grim foreshadow of his empty plot on the tombstone where he knows his name will be one day. But everything is okay, because we acknowledge what's to come. We talk about his death quite often since he too, 10 years later, is battling the same disease that took my mother away. Cancer. That word use to trigger me to make me cry and shut down, just as the word mom did too. But nowadays those words give me hope and strength, Resilience! To love my father and every moment we have left together. So, to make this portrait in the pool with Jaxon gives me hope that we will continue to create more art. To include him in new projects. Giving me the inspiration to take on cancer as a subject matter and give back to the community through story telling and healing. Perhaps one day, we wont have to loose another family member, another friend, people in our community and all over the world, to this devastating pain that cancer causes us. I have faith we are not too far from a cure, and I learned that being present is the best medicine after all. This one is for you dad! We've captured the saddest moments at the graveyard on a cloudy day with mom to the happiest ones in the backyard swimming in the pool absorbing all the sunshine by your loving son. I am not sure how much time we have left together as you battle liver and bone cancer, but I am here for you dad, to bring you the medicine of faith and love. Every step of the way; I moved back from LA to be home in NY so whenever you need me I am a phone call away. It's important to ask your parents questions before they are gone. The stories, the recipes, the memories are the stories we share with our kids and so on. Be curious you might learn something new! Don't let it all slip away like I did with mom. I learned the hard way. Thank you for being my dad in this lifetime. God bless and I love you, Alfonso Aversano. To many years to come...