Our Precious Things We Left Behind

In 1956 Gina Sinozich, her husband and two children secretly fled communist Croatia for political asylum in Italy. This painting represents Gina's imagined farewell to loved ones, showing her mother-in-law Maria in black, her own mother Antonia, her brother Riko and her best friend Gina. Many displaced migrants left in secret without telling friends or family, resulting in feelings of isolation, deception and loss. Gina said 'in my heart it was raining' when she left Croatia without saying goodbye to loved ones.