ART
Carbonara’s series, Who’s Who in America, explores the diversity of the country’s population. Taking her camera, she approached subjects from all walks
of life and asked if she could take their photo to use for a painting. No one refused, she says. The balloon is symbolic of their experience as an American.
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LOVE OF COUNTRY
Another series was inspired by her experience as the daughter of an immigrant.
Her Italian father so loved the United States that he had his children
write letters to all the presidents when they were young.
Who’s Who in America is a series of a dozen portraits of Americans, a “melting
pot” of people who make up the American fabric — a Muslim cab driver,
a homeless man in Chicago, a policewoman in Seattle, an Orthodox Jewish
gentleman in New York. She photographs them and tells them she will be
painting their portrait. The only embellishment she adds is a helium flag
balloon.
“Being American to me is not about a look or anything you can see with
your eyes. It’s an attitude, a way of thinking and approaching life,” she says.
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