In 1974, a woman by the name of Joanne Stefani Germanotta passed away at the age of 19 from the autoimmune disease called Lupus, which can “damage any part of the body (skin, joints, and/or organs)” (lupus.org). She was an artist, poet, and family woman taken too early from the incurable diagnosis. Almost 40 years later, her younger brother and sister in law, Joseph and Cynthia Germanotta opened the Italian family restaurant, Joanne’s Trattoria, in memory of her life.
Being one of Joseph Germanotta’s lifelong dream to become a restaurant owner, he was finally able to do so after retiring from his telecommunications job where “the money was at” (Germanotta, Joe). He and his wife raised two successful daughters, put them both through prestigious catholic schools, top colleges, all while living on the upper west side of Manhattan. However, his ability to open up the west side restaurant in the first place is fueled, aided, and supported through his first daughter, Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta’s rapid and enormous success. She is best known around the world through her stage name, Lady Gaga. Stefani not only purchased the restaurant herself, but supported the memorialization itself through the devotion of her fans and outreach in the world. Joanne's legacy and heart will remain forever by the product of her memorialzation in the heart of the world's greatest city.
In this exhibit, I want to explore the use of Joanne's as a public memorial, and the transforming of Gaga's influence, fameness, and publicness as a tool to help Joanne's exist to be the well known trattoria it is today.