This project is dedicated to Jan and Larry, Mickey and Marv, Keith and Jen, and everyone who took the time to share their stories with me.
I love you all dearly.
NINA GERZEMA'S ARTIST STATEMENT
I was born in China, moved to the US at the ripe old age of one, and have resided in the cozy borough of Manhattan ever since. I attended LREI since what feels like the dawn of time (I am a lifer), and enjoy quirky paintings, walking my leash-biting dog Daisy, and experimenting with creative baking. I will be off to Syracuse University, known for its ability to produce my lovely cat-loving teacher, James French who has been a dear mentor to me.
For my Senior Project, I decided to interview grandparents of the senior class and people connected to the faculty, granted they be one generation older than them. I interviewed over zoom or a phone call and recorded everything. Most of the recordings are posted on this website along with one of the interviewees' favourite recipes, songs, and photos from when they were around the voting age of 18 years old if they had any of those things to share.
I began this project inspired by my Grams' stories she told me one exceedingly late evening long ago. It was also, in part, further formed by my curiosity about my classmates' grandparents' lives and personalities. I wanted to see where my classmates came from, two generations back.
To prepare, I diligently read The Beauty of Living Twice, by Sharon Stone, a beautifully written biography. It made me believe that everyone has unexpected backgrounds like hers. Many of her stories were smaller anecdotes that I was actually seeking as I went into my interviews. I also listened to a few youtube videos and podcasts to get me into what one might call 'an interviewing mode,' if you please.
In the beginning, I believed that there was something I needed to uncover about everyone's past in order for me to find any meaningful outcome in this project. As I went along, I came to the realization that not everyone needs a heart-wrenching, tear-jerking, or skin-crawling past to have stories that excite, inform, and challenge the mind.
Older generations provide a connection to a past we would never be able to fathom without first-hand narrations of the types of lives people lived, especially the lives of those who are family.