Astoria, OR
My Name is Maria Rosa Lanzarotti
$1500
To Purchase Contact 23 Sandy Gallery
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Facsimile copy of Maria’s trunk made to 1/125 scale of the actual trunk. Reproduced precisely to scale and detail. Metal, leather, wood, board, paper, found objects. 9.75 x 8 x 6.25 inches. Approx 30 pages in 2 small books. One of a kind.
Artist Statement
My name is Maria Rosa Lanzarotti.
This is my story.
I have lived many roles—the life of an Italian daughter, woman, dressmaker, kindergarten teacher, American, wife, mother, grandmother and great-grandmother.
As a young woman, I met Valenti—my sun and moon who made everything possible—but I was soon plunged into an eternal night when he was killed in the Great War.
I packed away keepsakes of my lost love, photographs of my parents and my brothers, bits of unused fabric, a journal, and a few belongings in a steamer trunk, to begin again in America.
On the ship, I breathed in the salted Atlantic Ocean, journeyed over the hypnotic click-clack of the rails through the green hills of Pennsylvania, Nebraska’s whispering grasslands, deserts and forests where the scent of pinion pine and coal curled in the frigid mountain air.
Through many years, I’ve added new treasures, the photos of my blue-eyed husband, Giovanni Lorenzo who had once lived no more than thirty miles from my home town of Ferrera Erbagnone—photos of my children and grandchildren, letters from my brothers in Italy.
Time passes. These memories I’ve cherished most—my past and present—I leave to my granddaughter to create our future.All images and text copyright the artist. All rights reserved.
