Mary Tortorici
Having lived and worked in Italy, I was fortunate to have experienced a seamless connection between people, the land and the way they live life. The Italians demonstrate a reverence towards primary needs, nature and their historical culture. By comparison, I felt how dislocated I live in America. It made sense for the first time in my life why I felt so out of sync with American culture.
I set out to find some redeeming value in the mundane of vernacular American culture and to include in my photographs its symbols and iconography. I continually redefine a place in the world that strives to unite incongruent aspects of our culture and the natural world. Objects and activities of people and nature are left as a measure of this interaction. The landscape and our visibility in it are constant reminders of how we wish to make ourselves be known, what we are willing to build, buy, discard, neglect or preserve.
Living in Kentucky, I am acutely aware of a local culture that is being infiltrated by the overarching influences of development. The landscape records individual lives and social trends, our past and present, the uniqueness of local cultures and the homogenization of franchises. My photographs are questions and negotiations of the value of each.