Making Yelo (Making Ice) , 11x14” , acrylic and charcoal on canvas
Gallery:
AnkhLave Arts Alliance House
408B Colonels Row
Governors Island, New York, NY.
Presented by: Darlene Deloris x AnkhLave Arts Alliance
LIKE WATER May 2026
Cutorial Objective: To explore the relationships between the possibility that water has an ability to be influenced by events, artists creating work about memory, and the artwork that those artists make.
My work for Like Water explores the formative years of my childhood spent with my yaya (nanny), Judit, who was my first best friend and my primary architect of wonder. Through this painting, I examine how water—in its liquid, frozen, and transformative states—serves as a vessel for memory and a testament to the quiet everyday labor of love. "Making Yelo" (Making Ice) honors the tactile joy of a common Filipino household ritual. I remember the mesmerizing sight of clear water filling thin plastic bags, the rhythmic tying of knots, and the patient wait for the freezer to turn liquid into stone. There was a profound, simple happiness in touching those cold, bouncy forms. By documenting this memory, I look at how making ice was more than a chore; it was a shared experiment in transformation and a cooling balm of companionship in the tropical heat. Through this painting, water is a bridge to the past—freezing a moment in time while allowing the love behind it to remain fluid and ever-present.