My grandmother was an Italian immigrant who moved to Brooklyn in the '30s. She was 16 years old and traveled for a month on a boat alone to get to America. In the '70s my mother traveled to Maiori Italy with her mother to visit the homeland. My mother had a beloved cameo passed down to her from her grandmother. It was beautiful, I would always marvel over it. When my mother passed I took her ashes back to the small town off the coast of Amalfi. I was lucky to have met with my grandmother's niece who knew my mother and helped me to retrace the same steps she took in the 70's when she visited. In Italy, I came to find a lot of cameo jewelers who hand carve the most accurate and delicate detailed reliefs from shells. As my mother did not have the original cameo, I got the necklace pictured while in Italy to remind me of her, the place where I come from, and the way of life. 

– Eve Frudakis

Relationship:  Grandchild of im/migrant Grandchild of im/migrant