PORTRAITS OF MY PEOPLE
The United Nations is pleased to present Mark Guglielmo: Portraits of My People, the New York-born, Northampton-based artist's first New York City solo exhibition, featuring life-size collage portraits exploring the Italian American experience, running September 1–26, 2026 at the United Nations, Albano Building, 305 E 46th St, New York, NY 10017.
Combing through thousands of old, black and white, archival and family photographs, the artist drew inspiration from his childhood growing up in a large Italian American family in New York and from those that came before him. Themes of memory, identity, family, and belonging permeate the portraits. With this body of work, Guglielmo intends to honor his beloved grandparents Grace and Angelo, who raised 11 children and still held space for him and his siblings. He celebrates this quickly disappearing culture while engaging Italian American identity to spark greater awareness and deeper conversations about some of the most salient issues of our time.
"The exhibition is being very well received by our colleagues for its artistic values and uplifting inspirations," says Rong Jiang, Curator at The United Nations. "These paintings are about how an Italian immigrant family has made it in the United States, where immigration has become a topical issue."
Portraits of My People was previously featured in a solo exhibition at Barn Door Gallery, Northampton Center for the Arts, Northampton, MA (April 2–30, 2025), which included an opening reception coinciding with Arts Night Out, an artist talk, and a community conversation entitled "Italians and Whiteness in the United States" featuring Guglielmo, his sister Jennifer Guglielmo (Professor of History, Smith College), and Heshima Moja (Musician, Composer). The series has also been featured in group exhibitions Root/Signal, curated by Caitlin Hurd and Melanie Vote, Arno Maris Gallery, Westfield State University, Westfield, MA; A May Day Celebration in Honor of Women's Radical Dreams of Emancipation, Smith College, MacLeish Field Station, Whately, MA; Pushing the Envelope, Five Points Gallery, Torrington, CT; Healing through Art, Imagination, and Community Collaboration, BOMBYX Center for Arts & Equity, Florence, MA; and Roots and Vessels: An Exploration of Ancestry, Lineage, and the Embodied Family Portrait, curated by Priya N. Green, Central Connecticut State University, New Britain, CT.
"Mark's series is absolutely outstanding—vivid colors, cultural tones, and layered personalities all collaged into life-size portraits," notes Amy Matteson Neill, Creative Director of Art Fluent. "These pieces are bold and soulful, singing with personality and heart. We received hundreds of applications from six countries, and his work rose above them all."
The series has received support from 701 Center for Contemporary Art Artist-in-Residence (forthcoming 2027), Art Fluent Evolution Grant, The Puffin Foundation Project Grant, and three successive grants from Community Foundation of Western Massachusetts ValleyCreates Program, offered in partnership with MASS MoCA Assets for Artists.