© JP Terlizzi | Namesake
Remembering Papa
JP Terlizzi
Most of the work of JP Terlizzi is about his family. In his practice, he explores memory, relationship, identity, legacy, and family themes.
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Artdoc
The project, Remembering Papa, is not about the father of Terlizzi but about his maternal Italian family called Papa. Both of his maternal grandparents shared the name, Papa. It’s a surname that JP Terlizzi most identifies with. The series comprises carefully selected objects into which he meaningfully integrated old family photos. Honest pieces of text complete the story of the first generations of Italian immigrants in America.
Most of the work of JP Terlizzi is about his family. In his practice, he explores memory, relationship, identity, legacy, and family themes. He interrogates how the past intersects with the present. For the project, Remembering Papa, he took a workshop on three-dimensional assemblages. “I had never done them before, so I was curious. I made an assemblage of my grandmother that resonated with me during that workshop. I brought it home and started thinking about my family history and the legacies left behind. Many of my family members have passed now, and my generation is the memory keeper for my family. So, I thought about what I wanted to leave behind for my kids and grandkids. That's where it started—my family history and the legacies I would leave behind.”
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Terlizzi asked himself how he could incorporate the family photos into the objects to enliven the portrait and give a more profound meaning by combining both. “Photography was always my starting point; then I added the objects to revitalize it and give more meaning to the story. The project deals with my relationship with each family member and my good or bad memories of them; it was important to share both sides.”
Objects
Photographs are flat objects, missing the tactile, three-dimensional sensation that artworks usually have. The partly self-fabricated objects, mostly daily household things, like a mirror, bottle, and wooden boxes, give more emotional depth to the photographs than if they were exposed by themselves. It was a deliberate decision to create three-dimensional objects in which the family photos were embedded. “I want to give more meaning to the family photographs by using these objects. I have family photographs in which there are unknown people. The memories of who those people are and why those photos were taken are gone. The object enhances the photographs and helps to tell the story a bit more.”
Honest stories
Family photos show glamour and happiness even when the opposite is true. It takes courage to show the world the other side of the coin. JP Terlizzi is frank and unusually open about his family relationships. Together with the artworks, he writes adjacent texts that reveal his relationship with each depicted extended family member. Some stories are heartwarming and endearing, like the story of his grandmother, the matriarch. Near the art object, an assemblage of threads and a scissor, we read: “She was always surrounded by her family, and there was an abundance of love that continuously radiated from her.” His mother is symbolized by a violin on which a portrait of the mother has been bound with red threads, hanging down with a tinge of sadness. We read the honest and sad story behind the violin: “My mother enjoyed playing the violin but was ridiculed by my father, causing her to stop playing, locking the violin in its case, and placing the case on the bottom shelf of our family’s closet, never to be opened again.” Terlizzi does not hide his mother’s mournful story; he made another artwork dedicated to his complicated relationship with his mother and called it meaningfully, Pins. The portrait of a little girl, Terlizzi’s mother, is seated next to a family member pierced with red pins, symbolizing the pain his mother caused and inflicted on the family. Terlizzi wrote the adjacent text: “By creating a world where she controlled the narrative, she could justify her hurtful actions and behaviour, which ultimately alienated her from the entire Papa family.”
The artist's frankness is confrontational but also anointing. He neither indulges in a false exaltation nor lamentable self-pity. Terlizzi: “Even though I have a large extended Italian family, I had no relationship with anyone on my father's side. I had a nonexistent relationship with my father but was very close with my aunts, uncles, and my mother’s siblings. My relationship with my mom and brother was not good; it was dysfunctional. We were estranged for decades. My stories about them were increasingly full of conflict and pain. However, with my aunts and uncles, there was nothing but love. I’ve always wondered—I may never have an answer—why my mother was the way she was when her siblings were so loving and supportive towards her.”
Every single family has a dysfunction. It is liberating to be vulnerable and share it with people so that others can relate to it.
Myth and catharsis
Terlizzi wants to show a sense of love and honesty toward his family. “Every single family has a dysfunction. It is liberating to be vulnerable and share it with people so that others can relate to it. My parents’ bitter divorce was a traumatic experience for my mom, and it had a ripple effect on us. I want to show the honesty and vulnerability of the families, as well as their love and pain.”
Roland Barthes commented on the famous exhibition, The Family of Man, which showed people's lives worldwide that it was a myth. Is there a wish to break the myth in Remembering Papa? “I want to break from the myth because several things in my family were never discussed. For instance, I had no clue that my great-uncle, my grandfather's brother, was murdered. Nobody spoke about it in the family. I didn’t know about it until several years later. My cousin, who had the newspaper articles, told me, and I was stunned. I never even knew my grandfather had a brother. My family never spoke about it. And the assassination must have had a big impact on my grandfather. He named his first son after his brother.”
I want to break from the myth because several things in my family were never discussed.
Uncovering the hidden family secrets has a purging and therapeutic effect on the artist, spectator, and reader. “Writing about the work and bringing up memories is very cathartic. Especially writing about my brother, with whom I have a distant relationship. I didn't want him to be part of the series, but I found it necessary to show my relationship with him as well. I wondered whether the relationship would be mendable. Absolutely not! It's a severed relationship. We will never be close and never have a brotherly relationship. But even writing about my mom and all her pain helped me. She was a very proud and stubborn woman who didn’t want to seek professional help. Writing about that helped. It was very cathartic and a way of closure. I concluded: this is how the person was. I cannot change this person. I have to accept it, move on and not dwell on it. Writing about it and sharing those feelings helps me move on.”
Italian American
The project, Remembering Papa, tells the story of a typical Italian immigrant family living in the United States with all the ups and downs, hidden secrets, customs, and quirks. Does Terlizzi identify himself as an Italian or American? “I identify myself as an Italian American. I mean, I am more American than Italian. I'm a second-generation American. My grandparents came over, but you don't think about that as a kid growing up. I never thought about my grandparents leaving their home country until much later. They left Italy when they were in their late teens. My grandfather left his parents and sister. They came to this country for opportunities and didn’t know anyone. I can't fathom how traumatic that must have been. Italian families in New York were stereotyped. It was very revelatory to read the words in the newspaper article about the murder of my grandfather's brother. They kept calling him an Italian alien. They used very condescending words to describe the Italian community they lived in. It was sad to read, yet it still goes on today.”
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