Memories of my birthplace, Avella, Italy, have always been suffused with the warmth of family, mountain vistas, and the ever-present sight of a medieval castle on a hill. At home in New York I wrote poems and reminiscences of my early experiences in Avella. However, during my visits there, I enjoyed walking all over town and taking photos….
In this photographic essay, I seek to share the sense of rootedness to the land of my birth that is embodied by the old doors and windows. They are channels between my Italian legacy and my native Italian language on the one hand, and my adopted American identity and English language on the other. I hope that viewers, immigrants or not, will feel that primeval pull that birthplace elicits in our hearts, without diminishing the strong identity we feel for the place we call home.
Eleanor Maiella Imperato
