The Arts in New York City

Joined Images from a Diverse History

In my collage, each image symbolizes a part or multiple parts of my family’s history. My father’s side, Lee, and my mother’s side, Scileppi are represented. The cutout of Norway is for my father, and the Spain and Italy for my mother’s side. In the left corner is a clipper ship, because my great-great -grandfather ran goods from the U.S. northeast down to Bolivia. They got into the “salvage business” and were basically pirates unfortunately (hence the skull and bones).

There are several war images because I wanted to show my family’s involvement in the military. My great uncle was in the Korean War for several years, and the image of the planes to the left was from that war. He was shell-shocked from the war, and my aunt helped him out of it. The image of the two soldiers embracing is emblematic of this idea of people in a family being there for one another.

My Grandfather was in WWII, so that is shown by the troops deploying from a war ship. My own father was a marine during the Vietnam War. He said his favorite thing about the military was the parachute jumps, something he continued to do afterward on occasion for fun. I thought this was strange, as most people would find this terrifying. I put a parachute in because I liked this idea of it as a metaphor for jumping into the unknown and taking risks. The people in our family who take risks are the ones most influential in shaping its future. My grandfather, Sevario Scileppi, who was in WWII also helped to build the George Washington Bridge (which is shown in the collage), and later was a civil engineer.

The woman posing in the collage is cut from a photo by Avedon. I put this in because my Aunt Thonje (wife of my Uncle Ronald, who was in the Korean war) was a model when she was younger and had her photo taken by Avedon. The woman also represents my Grandmother, on my father’s side, who was a theater actress, singer, and dancer.

The Virgin Mary in the upper right symbolizes motherhood and a kind of watchful, caring eye. Also my mother’s side was religious. My great-grandfather was from Spain, where religion is important; the cathedral in the collage is a Spanish one. The Virgin Mary also represents my mother who is named Mary, as well as my Great-Aunt Mary who was a nun. The Virgin Mary is also for the mourning we experience when a family member dies.

The silhouette of the pregnant woman of course stands for motherhood as well. My Grandma Scileppi had eight children, and it is from that side of the family that I have all my cousins. Sadly, one of the children, Stephen, died when he was twelve from leukemia. I was named Stephanie in subtle memory of him.

Opposite the pregnant stomach is a map of Brooklyn. Coincidently, the outline of the map somewhat mirrors the stomach. I put Brooklyn in because basically everyone from both sides of the family can be traced back to Brooklyn.

I originally had trouble creating something that I felt was cohesive and not just a jumble of confusing, seemingly unrelated images. However, as I went on and limited the space I could work in, it was easier. I found things that were important to the history of numerous people within the family. In other words, I saw how people had things in common. Of course, there is more to my family’s history than what I wrote here, but a family’s history is so complex and sometimes unknowable, that we have to just appreciate what we can.

Stephanie Lee

This entry was posted on Sunday, December 3rd, 2006 at 8:42 pm and is filed under Home, Stephanie Lee. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.