Forbes September 25, 2024
Growing up in Nicaragua in the 1960s, San Francisco Bay Area resident Blanca Lorena Perez detonated what she called “ash bombs” in her aunt’s garden. Beneath a tall mango tree, she and her cousins would drop a heavy rock onto one end of their wooden seesaw, causing a can of ashes balanced on the opposite end to jump, spewing the powdery residue they culled from fallen leaves burned to use as fertilizer.
Perez’s aunt was none too pleased to discover the kids’ wasteful, messy game, but Perez laughs as she points to a scene of the playful pastime she’s painted in watercolor, the palette dominated by vibrant greens.
“These are happy, nostalgic memories,” she said. She’s brought them back to...
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