Rationale-

On October 8th, 2023, I interviewed my mom about a special two-piece article of clothing my mom received from her grandfather. Before she immigrated from the Dominican Republic to New York City, my mother’s life in the Dominican Republic was very peaceful and the relationship she had with her grandfather was proof of that. He was the family’s mediator, and everyone loved him. This set of clothing was his last gift to her before her passing, and she only got to wear it twice. Unfortunately, because she put it away when he passed, the jacket and skirt are in a storage box in her home country so I am not able to show the real items of clothing, but I have examples that are very close to the real thing, which I will include in the collage offering. I learned that my mom was highly favored by the elders in her family, and she became someone who was respected and listened to by the younger ones in her family because of that. This project is centered around the impact of my mother’s close relationships with her grandfather, and how his importance in her life molded her to hold greater value for her relationships later on. To me, my mother’s relationships are few, but the ones she has consist of dedication and honesty, which is a value that I find that I strive for in my life. When my mom began to focus on her earlier life and mentioned individuals like her great grandmother from Spain, I began to think about my ancestors and how little data I have on them. My sister did a 23&me test a few years back, and she got a lot of African countries, with the highest one being Nigeria at only 14%. We spoke about how we felt in terms of not having data that goes back to anytime past the 1800’s, and during this interview I realized that my mother doesn’t have much information on our family from before that time period as well. My goal in the future is to try to gain information on my family before this time period.