Roxana Soto

Always viewed Arizona as a second home, it’s where Thanksgiving’s were spent with my Grandma, where all my Summers were spent with my cousins swimming and going to the theaters (I don’t mean watching a movie once a week I mean daily! Watching movies and accumulating AMC movie watcher points was sport in that house IYKYK). When Rafael passed I knew I wanted to do something for my Tia so I reached out to this amazing and talented Artist who had done a beautiful portrait of Jose’s cousin Larry that I had fallen in love with. When I commissioned this piece I shared Rafael’s story, pictures and his music giving the artist complete creative freedom. What can I say? She captured his spirit! His soul! When I saw this all I could say was “This is Rafael!” I love my cousins and I view them all like siblings. We all grew up together and overtime got busy and grew apart. Like most people now in days we stay connected through social media, watching our lives happen through posts, stories, reels and live feeds. Rafael was dealing with addiction but despite that I will always remember him as my cousin Rafael who is about to post another jam session on social media, my cousin Rafael who is going to Coachella this summer living his best life, simply MY COUSIN RAFAEL. We love you. We miss you.