The Ward (No. 7) by Ivano Stocco, 2012-13

Mixed media on panel

30" x 36" 

http://www.ivanostocco.com/gallery/The%20Ward%207.jpg

The Ward (No. 8) by Ivano Stocco, 2012-13

Mixed media on panel

36" x 36"

http://www.ivanostocco.com/gallery/The%20Ward%20No.%208.jpg

I: I have a series called The Ward. Which was just depictions of The Ward in Guelph which, nothing to write home about necessarily, but in a large way that’s – I mean, I grew up in the Ward. And that was a part of Guelph that was settled by a lot of Italians. It was the first wave of non-Anglo Protestants to settle in Guelph that then moved out of the – initially, the downtown – and then were pushed out into the Ward. So a lot of the homes you see the red bricks and it’s changing now, I mean, it’s not what it was, but there was a time when it was a pretty solidly Italian-Canadian part of town and very sort of working class, and people doing construction work and factory work and that kind of stuff. I don’t know I’ve sort of – I’ve held onto a bit of that aesthetically I think in what I’ve done and even just doing that series on the Ward kind of touches on it. You know, people in Guelph were thrilled about it, for some reason. A lot of people have been through that neighbourhood and have connections to it and it seems to evoke this kind of old sense of what Guelph was. I mean, I think you can make the same argument for KW, for Hamilton, for Toronto, for a lot of these cities…And then just another thing, working with your hands and having that manual ability was really important for a lot of the Italians that left Italy and settled in Canada in the 50s and 60s. They did manual labour and the ones that – those that went on to be artists, you know, I think have sort of been reluctant to let go of that evidence of the hand in the art and just some craft quality, you know, just a technical accomplishment. I know for me, I do some abstract work, but I struggle more with it because it’s just, it feels more foreign to me and I’m always thinking it just looks like some kid threw paint at the canvas kind of thing. I know it’s not, because I do it and it’s much more difficult than that. But having something that’s kind of popular enough and semi-representational and looks like “ok, this person’s put some time into what they’re doing” you know, there’s a manual accomplishment, a technical ability there. And for me that comes from – maybe that’s – yeah, that comes from the Italian, the specific wave of Italian immigration that landed in Canada. I think it’s the same for a lot of immigrant groups.

N: So would you say that that’s kind of like, a value that you like to keep in your artwork? Keeping that Italian in the back of your mind?

I: I think so, it’s not that I emphasize it, I don’t put that in my artist statement, but it’s there in the back of my mind, for sure. I take pride in that kind of stuff. I go to art shows and people will ask me stuff and I don’t hesitate to say “yeah as I teenager I worked in factories”. I have an apprenticeship in plastering and I really like all the manual labour jobs and stuff. Even though I have an academic – like I’ve got a university degree and all the rest but that other stuff is equally important. I can always hear the voices in the back of my head of, you know, my parents and that generation of Italians saying “ahh those lousy teachers that never worked a day in their life” kind of thing and “they couldn’t screw in a lightbulb at home” kind of thing. We always kind of took pride in we’ll take care of that stuff ourselves. So some of it’s still there and I think it’s come out in the art. I can certainly see that appreciated in Italy with, even the art that’s done today, there’s a lot of people still doing marble sculptures and doing – the architecture is beautiful and even the fashion. People put a lot of attention and stuff into quality. Even the food! People don’t serve up any old thing or put on any old shabby t-shirt. There’s an attention to that detail that isn’t as strong in North America. There’s something cultural in that I think. If I look at images of these Italians that came over in my parents’ generation or their parents’ generation, they’re all dressed immaculately, they have suits on. They’re poor, they’ve just come from some farm, they’ve got a Stetson hat, you know, it’s odd. They’re not in potato sacks all dusty and what you’d expect necessarily.

Ivano's mother 2007

N: Did your parents come over together or separately?

I: Oh no, my mom came over herself initially and finished off her last years of high school in Canada and my dad came over when he was in his mid 20s in the early 70s. And they settled in Guelph. I think most Italians in Guelph, in Kitchener, they came in from the late 50’s to early 70s. And they’re mostly from… that north - around Venice, the countryside of Venice or Calabria, the heel. Those two areas…When I lived in Italy, recently, it was in Florence. There, there’s like – no one even knows where Canada is. 

N: Really? 

I: No, there’s no connection to Canada at all. And there wasn’t a lot of emigrants that left for other parts of the world. It was a weirder experience for me being there.

Ivano's children at Salton Sea 2017

N: You seem to be pretty connected to your Italian heritage and ancestry. Are there ways that you do that in your current life right now to stay connected or ways that you can help keep that heritage in your children, or something, from being far away from your parents right now?

I: I don’t know it’s tough. 

N: Or is that like a goal that you still want to instill Spanish side with your wife and then the Italian side on your side. 

I: Yeah we try – it’s um – I have a love/hate relationship with it all. Italy is a very different place than what I think Italian-Canadians remember of it, it’s definitely got – as nice as the art is and the food and all the rest, there’s a side to the country that’s just oppressive. Just look at the politics today. If you live there and you talk to people, they tell you a very different story than what this old generation of Italians in Guelph are going to talk about. And so I see both sides of that and I wouldn’t want to live there, for instance. It surprises people to hear me say that. When I think of, still how, it’s not a great place for women – I’ve got two girls, I don’t care for them to be going to school in Italy necessarily. It’s still a fairly patriarchal society, more so than Canada and the US. It’s politics right now are very right wing, you know fascism of the 30s, it’s not that but it’s not going away. There’s a lot of ugly, anti-immigrant stuff happening in Italy so, I don’t know. If anything I impart to my own kids it’s that balanced picture. Sure there’s all the beautiful art and the food and be proud of that but be critical as well of some of the stuff that a lot of Italians are too nostalgic about to pay attention to enough. I think there should be some attention given to that side of what’s happening, not just in Italy, in Europe too. It’s not all cafes in Europe, there’s some pretty ugly types in the continent. But, predominantly it’s through my family and you know my parents in particular. And then the language, making an effort to be practiced in the language. I read the newspapers a little bit and watch Italian films and that kind of stuff. I wouldn’t say it’s very strongly there on a daily basis, and same with the Spanish. And it’s hard to maintain a second language in North America. 

N: It’s very English-centered.

I: It’s very English-centred and you have to really go out of your way to find opportunities to speak other languages or immerse yourself in other cultures – you can do it, but it takes an effort. It’s not like you go out on the street and you find francophones to speak with in Guelph, it’s very tough…But, yeah! I think it’s important to know where you come from, but not to be stuck in some kind of nostalgic vision of what that is either. And for me, my name’s weird enough that people – when I meet people they’re like “oh where does that name come from?” That doesn’t happen for my cousins! Like I’ve got a cousin named Mike and he never gets that question, right? That’s a bit of a difference there. 

N: The privilege of a name that people get, just in North America, there’s definitely a lot of privilege in that. It’s unfortunate. 

I: Yeah, well not just a name, but skin colour, accent, religion. 

N: Yeah, accent always baffles me. I know a lot of British people and it’s just funny when they don’t get called out for their accent, but you know someone from India does.

I: I – for me, I had that moment – I grew up speaking the accent of English that we’re speaking, but living in England, boy did I ever feel that there. And I was teaching in England, so I was teaching kids and they were jeering and laughing at specific ways of saying – even in the States I get it. I’ve learned them by now, but there’s very Canadian ways of saying things that they don’t say and they just give you away right away. Right away, like within a couple minutes someone will go “oh you’re a Canadian”. I can’t tell, I don’t know how you tell! What did I say here exactly, it’s like some inflexion of the accent. Yeah, it’s an uncomfortable feeling. I’m a lot more sympathetic of it now. Well and then my parents both have accents, so I was used to it as a kid just these parents that had these weird accents and everybody noticed *laughs*. It hasn’t felt totally unnatural to me, but I don’t know, it is annoying. Especially when you get tons of people in one day it’s just like “okay enough already” *laughs*.