These paintings are a reflection about the challenge of developing an identity while being raised in a multicultural setting. While growing up, I found myself often being categorized in different and contradicting ways. My mother has been always a proud German and for her I was just that. Local people considered me a member of their community since I was born and raised in Tuscany, Italy. In school teachers would ask me the origins of my unusual last name. Inside myself and outside by people I found myself constantly switching from one nationality to the other. I was afraid I did not belong anywhere. I could not find myself in my parents who didn't master the Italian language and were defending their German origins. I could not identify with the people of small town Italy, uneducated about the German culture and language and that had never traveled outside Italy. I felt frustrated about this internal struggle of finding my identity, so alone with it. When I had the opportunity to go to California to have a whole new life experience I felt very excited about the potential that the new world was offering. America is a place where many people like me navigate multiple nationalities. I could find the answer to my inner dilemma just by the fact that I could see the problem from a different perspective. I hope to evoke feelings of struggle, loneliness, and the consciousness of a reality we don't perceive when we are not part of a "particular selection" of people.
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