Alicia Vera: Va a llover toda la noche

When my mother, Concepcion, was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in 2018, I was devastated, anxious and hopeless. I struggled with the idea of losing my mother even though she would remain physically here with us. In that desperation, I began to collect emails, text messages, handwritten notes, drawings and archival images from my family. I didn’t quite know what I was doing with the work yet, but I knew I had a lot of feelings to process. I started weaving images together, making interventions on them all while simultaneously photographing my mom every time I would go back home to Miami. 

Slowly, the work started coming together in what would become Va a Llover Toda La Noche (It’s Going to Rain All Night), a photo story. My focus became clear: I wanted people to understand that Alzheimer’s disease affects more than just the patient. We, the families and caregivers, struggle with a complex set of emotions when navigating this disease. 

- From the author, Alicia Vera