Link to my video piece: https://photos.app.goo.gl/8Lh1rBriJKhYVkqG6
My name is Giovanna Ricevuto and I am an Italian American from Brooklyn. My art piece is a response to both the Christopher Columbus Monument located in Columbus Circle, the research I did on the monument and my experience as an Italian American. The original art piece I made was a miniature monument that mimics the original. Like the original, it has many layers and is made in a step-like structure, with words, reliefs and mini figures decorating different levels. Unlike the original, this piece is made of paper. To present it in our virtual forum, I also made a video that compares the two structures.
I do not know how long it took me to create the monument and the video, but it took a while. I watched all 3 original Spider-Man movies and was still not finished! I chose to use regular printer paper as my medium because I thought that it would be easy to fold and make into my shapes. I did have a fear that the weight of the piece would cause it to collapse, but this did not happen. I used a paper towel roll as the column in the middle and found objects and printed pictures to decorate my monument. To make the video, I found images online of the monument and then tried to recreate them with my own mini monument. I then assembled them in iMovie, and tried to present them along with music.
This piece is meant to mock the Christopher Columbus Monument. While it is known by many that he was a genocidal maniac that started a long line of oppression within the New World, Italians seem to rally behind him. Why would you want such a terrible man to represent us though? Through my research I learned that Italian Immigrants were oppressed and mistreated, and while today we are seen as white, back then we were not. The Columbus Monument was the start of bringing Italians into the “White Club” so to speak. While this was beneficial to Italians back in the day, as it ended the oppression they faced, it also led to a large loss of culture and becoming white stripped us of our identities. Some Italians are lucky and have maintained their culture, but my very much assimilated family has resulted in me no longer even feeling Italian. This piece is supposed to represent how the Columbus Monument is celebrating Whiteness rather than Italian-ness. This is demonstrated through the decoration of the monument, and how it is decorated with Italian things that aren’t really Italian like Olive Garden and Italian Flag colored lollipops. It is not meant to be rude or insensitive to the oppression that Italians used to or have faced, but rather saying that we should focus on better icons that represent Italian Americans and not celebrate the stripping of our culture. It also serves as a cautionary tale for current immigrants to ensure their culture is not lost. Finally, this topic affects everyone since it causes the viewer to think about the myth of race and whether their culture has been or is being stripped away or if it is viewed as non-white and therefore “weird” or “other.
I hope you enjoy!
