Lucy finds solace from her grief in this remembrance dreamscape of son Jorge who died in an ATV accident. To counter blame and regrets, I turn Jorge into a role model, by giving him a “Guardian Lion’s Helmet” (from the 12th century) to symbolically protect future young riders. His actual tattoos are not shown because they disturbed Lucy. Instead, I created a special tattoo on his arm which celebrates the times Jorge and Lucy’s Cuban father would tinker under the hoods of his beautiful cars.

In her own words, Lucy shares her thoughts with me before and after I created Jorge’s prescriptive photomontage:

“Most things didn’t phase Jorge. Maybe in part he thought he was living a short life. I’m somewhat like that. I take things one day at a time. If he got upset, it would be very briefly. He was always laughing. He loved all kinds of music, listening to it on the radio: rap, all kinds of music. He was born here, but he was proud of his Cuban blood. And of his Grandpa.

He wasn’t irresponsible – just a free spirit. He didn’t believe in attachments. That he couldn’t do things. He touched so many people’s lives. Jorge loved riding bikes and cars. He’d buy one, fix it, sell it since he was little. He loved motorcycles and bikes, anything that happened to do with speed.

I’d ask him: Why don’t you wear a helmet? He’d say: They don’t make helmets big enough for my head. He was a really big guy, 6′ 4″.  Yes, I believed he could have had one custom made. He felt it wasn’t necessary. He was riding since he was very young. A kid just goofing around hit his back wheel. He fell on his head. A lot of weight on his head.

And look, his little brother Rene is making the same expression as Jorge: a funny face.”