Sara Camnasio’s self-portrait performance was one of cultural exploration and discovery, marked by humor and personal details. Sara portrayed the cultural shift in her life from Italy to New York through food, pictures and language. Starting with a fast-paced and somewhat exasperated-but-loving conversation with family in fluent Italian, set against the rolling hills of Italy, Sara crafted a picture of her life before she came to America. Despite it being in a foreign language, her conversation drew the audience in as the conversation we’ve all had with family. “Yes, yes I’m fine, Mom,” punctuated with a short and succint “Ciao, Ciao, Ciao” as though her relative wouldn’t get off the phone.

Hanging up, she spent some time revealing facets of her personality that she couldn’t live without; Sara shoved ring after ring onto her fingers, as if her journey couldn’t be made without them. She then ate some pasta to emphasize the mainstay of her culture. Finally, she bridged the gap between her two worlds on opposite sides of the room by literally jumping across it, her computer telling us that it was 2009, the year of her immigration to America. Arriving here she sighed contentedly before revealing a picture of Central Park, a far cry from the rolling hills of Italy. However, these two images connected the audience in their natural quality. Though the city is obviously a very different environment for Sara, she sees the role Nature has to play in both settings.

Settling down in New York, Sara picked up an American flag and surveyed it contentedly before smiling and covering herself in it, cloaking herself in her new American identity. However, her rings remain as a symbol of the parts of her personality that won’t change despite her cultural shift. She looked at her museum pass and exclaimed how cool it is before putting it on and opening herself up to all the cultural opportunities that New York has to offer. She babbled excitedly into her phone to her friends, a scene reminiscent of her phone call with her relative in Italy, whilst eating some humorous, stereotypical American food: McDonald’s. The parallel of this scene to the scene in Italy bridges the gap between the life Sara lived in Italy and the one she now lives in New York; it is essentially the same picture, the same language, but a different setting.

Even though I was filming it, I tried hard to watch it through my own eyes for the full perspective. As an audience member, I couldn’t help but relate to her fashion fetishes, her exasperation with her family, and her joy to be in a new culture. With her self portrait, Sara crossed the barrier of culture not only in her own life, but in the audience’s mind. She created a universal language for the audience through themes such as family, food and personality which are mainstays in everyone’s life, no matter their background. In a land where everything is different for her, Sara has managed to convey exactly what we all share, no matter our differences. Her self portrait is a portrait of New York; though the city is a medley of many peoples from many cultures, at the end of the day we are a cohesive body of citizens with a unique identity as “New Yorkers” who all share in the same “language” of the city.