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When I was a child, I would often fall asleep dreaming of visiting my extended family in Palermo/Italy. I am only a quarter Italian. I got the “looks” and the olive skin from my grandfather, Stanley Cina. Thus I was Italian! Italy was shrouded in countless mysteries in my dreams.

This poster turned out to be a special design piece for me because I got to talk with my grandmother a lot during the process and hear great stories. I normally called her every other week, but because I needed information, I ended up calling her every day for a week or so.

Less than a month after I was done with the poster I got a feeling that my grandmother was dying. I called her every day for a week and set a date to visit her. During that time, we found out that my wife was pregnant. The last day my grandma was coherent, I got to tell her the great news. From then, her health grew much worse.

I am happy to have been asked to work on this project. It brought my extended family closer together. They all would ask about it: the news travelled fast that I was working on a poster about them.

Looking back on the visuals of the poster, it almost seems prophetic: a shadow walking off the page.

I miss my grandmother and dedicate this to her memory. May she live in joy and peace with her maker.

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Michael Cina is a graphic designer and artist living in Minneapolis, Minnesota in the United States of America. He was born into a nomadic family that moved 7 times before he was four years old. His parents were living in Salt Lake City, Utah on the fourth of July, the day he was born. Michael is the cofounder of YouWorkForThem and is currently running the Minneapolis, MN studio. Michael spends most of his time working, enjoying time with his wife, reading and painting.

www.youworkforthem.com

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