Cocchiarelli: How did your idea of using images and words in These are not my Shoes evolve from the series of works which preceded it, Terrible Beauty—wood relief paintings that depict the World Trade Center tragedy? In those you seemed more interested in space and architectonic relationships created by form.

Petracca: My work explores the wonder of visual relationships made apparent by architectural form within pictorial space. I had been working on this concept for many years through my work. I think I was intrigued by the fact that architecture has a rich history with many possible interpretations concerning its meaning and relevance within a community. In a way, I found a context that worked for me to use subliminally both painting and architecture to create a comment on society in general. After 9/11, as a resident of Battery Park City—which is adjacent to the World Trade Center—I experienced the disaster by witnessing it, being part of it. I felt responsible as an artist to respond to it. I wanted to express how the architecture of these two huge buildings had affected the landscape of New York City and to reflect how the remnants of this disaster continued to impact our daily experience. The revival was a testament to New Yorkers’ energy and our ability to overcome a tragedy of such magnitude and be able to move forward. The series Terrible Beauty combined elements of my previous work with the idea of commenting on the power of renewal. I believe this helped me sensitize my ability to express a new depth of understanding concerning social, historical, racial, ethnic and gender issues that exist within our society.
Cocchiarelli: How does that translate into the Italian American stereotype concept that developed out of this into the current work Identity Theft and the previous series These are not my Shoes?

Petracca: I’ve been aware of the problem of Italian Americans being accepted by the New York art scene for a long time. Sometimes, subliminally I would feel as though my motives were being questioned, and I wondered that if my name were different would it be the same. Also, because I grew up in Rochester, New York, in a heavily Italian ghettoized neighborhood, I witnessed stereotyping and bias in the workplace, school, and finally in college. As I experienced this, it affected me deeply and superficially. So, upon completing my 9/11 series—which dealt with issues of intolerance directly—it was natural for me to continue in this vein. However, I eventually changed the issue to that of the Italian American struggle in America. The American approach has been not to question the misinformation of Italian American identity that has created a distortion of who we really are. In some ways the Italian American individual is partly to blame for this. But again, the complexity of our history, contributions, psychology, patriotism, etc., negates a monolithic interpretation or even an assessment of blame.

Cocchiarelli: Why would you say that we are partly to blame for it?

Petracca: In many ways it’s a romantic thing, beginning with Al Capone, and it may go further back than him. He and other “mob” figures are romantic images to the average American. This is partly due to the fact that they are mysterious, with twisted morality, and yet they still tend to be neighborhood leaders, thereby gaining respect of people who would ordinarily walk away from them. Then, American cinema basically hero-worshipped them. So naturally some Italian Americans started relating to these views personally. Italian Americans started acting in these roles. To be truthful, it probably was difficult for actors of Italian American descent to land roles that had a positive image because these roles were practically non-existent. How would you turn down an acting job when one was offered? It is only a movie? Even John Gotti said that part of what he learned was from the movies, acting out, how to be a tough guy. Then on another level we have someone like Mayor Guiliani who said that some of his best friends are people who characterize mob figures in movies. He even wanted them to march in the Columbus Day Parade. I believe he must have thought that these are perfectly fine role models for the average American to emulate.