A portrait of my (mamma) love
Bonifacia is my mother's name. All these years I thought it meant «pretty face. But Google claims it means benefactor. Fine. Because I see her in both meanings, and more. She's also very smart and charming. Generous and spiritual. (She wanted me to be a priest!) But she can also be very feisty at times. Which was bad for her heart condition.
That's why, in the late 1940s, together with our dad ( a military surgeon) and my six siblings, she decided to leave her stressful businesses (mining, logging and trading) in Manila and return to a healthier lifestyle in Tarlac. They bought some agricultural land in Barangay Balanti and turned it into a farm and cattle ranch.
Her compassion for the poor soon focused on the unfortunate situation of the farmers' children. A believer in the value of good education, she gathered all the idle kids and hired a teacher to mentor them the basic ABCs and 1,2,3s. And gradually the pupils increased yearly until the DepEd accredited the Balanti Elementary School, as it’s now known. It celebrates its 58th anniversary this year with 300 students.
Every Christmas our family blessings are threefold. Aside from celebrating the birth of Jesus, it's also the birthday of both our dad and sister. So my mom thought of initiating the idea of a Share-a-Christmas Program with the Tarlac Provincial Jail. She would bring a priest to the "bakasyonistas" (that’s what the inmates were called) to hear their confessions, celebrate Holy Mass and, hopefully, receive Holy Communion.
When my mother died of heart failure at the age of 55, my dad continued this Christmas apostolate. And for 62 years now, we eight siblings, numerous apos and apos sa tuhod, still share this Soliman Christmas tradition. We just added new activities like breakfast, fun games, clothes, gifts and birthday cakes.
Do you believe in divine intervention? I do. Seven years ago, DepEd Tarlac was looking for a land donor for a new high school site near our barangay. The lot area needed to be at least one hectare.
I inherited from my parents farmland measuring 1.19 hectares located right beside our Balanti Elementary School. Coincidence?
But, at first, I was not convinced to donate it because its market value shoots up by the day. Not until our elementary school principal added an offer I couldn’t resist. He said that the land donor has the right to choose the name of the person to be used for the new high school. Boom! My neurons started flashing images of the school entrance with “BONIFACIA G. SOLIMAN HIGH SCHOOL” in bold letters.
I've finally found the perfect place for our parents’ portrait. Especially as a tribute to our mother Bonifacia: a place where students will definitely recognize her “pretty face” and appreciate her as their “benefactor” who started it all for their learning foundation.
I have painted hundreds of portraits in my life, mostly during my 23 years spent in Italy. People both famous and unknown. Families and friends. Ambassadors and foreigners. Rich and nouveau riche. They are proudly displayed in embassies, museums and churches. But I've never done the portraits of my parents because I always ask myself: Will they ever appreciate it? Where will I display them? I’ve used oil on canvas. Ink on old piña cloth. Pastel on paper, etc. But I’d never tried mosaic tiles.
During one of my trips to Tarlac last year, I visited the Aquino Museum in Luisita. I admired the huge and artistic mosaic portraits of Cory and Ninoy. And that's when I said to myself: Why not?
But searching for the various mosaic tiles, colors and sizes (from Manila, Clark and Tarlac) was not easy. Nor was the process of sticking each and every tiny tile (total of 5,376) onto a 6’x4’ canvas. And for four long months. It was my most challenging portrait to date. But it was all worth every tile. Big exhale!
I've finally found the perfect place for our parents’ portrait. Especially as a tribute to our mother Bonifacia: a place where students will definitely recognize her “pretty face” and appreciate her as their “benefactor” who started it all for their learning foundation.
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Artist Tom Soliman studied at Scuola di Lingua e Cultural Italiana per Stranieri di Siena. He worked at the Philippine Embassy in Rome and lived in Italy for 23 years.