About The Artist
American fine arts photographer Velia Specchio (1972-) is best known for her performance based self portraits. Specchio’s themes are diverse and often character inspired. Most of her photographic works are created in a series sequence depicting a broken and surreal visual narrative.
Velia Specchio was the second born twin of Raymond (coal miner)and Lily Specchio. Born in Johnstown Pennsylvania, a child survivor of the 1977 Johnstown Flood. She was raised and schooled in Roman Catholic traditions. Influences from her childhood often surface into her photographic works. Specchio became interested in the visual and preforming arts in high school. Her interests included painting, photography ,dance ,costume design and make up. She attended Indiana university of PA and holds a B.S. in Art Education with a concentration in painting. Specchio continued to independently explore photography at this time however it was not a studio included in the fine arts department at her university. Upon graduation in 1996 Specchio relocated to North Carolina and was employed as an art therapist working on a hospital psychiatric unit.This field experience would further influence her work. In 2001 she began teaching art in the public schools until her move back to Pennsylvania in 2004. From 2004 until the present Specchio has been focused on her photographic work which she had been reluctant to share due to its personal nature. She publicly began exhibiting in 2007. She currently lives an isolated private life in a small town in western Pennsylvania in which she calls “ an abandoned ghost town”.
Artist Statement
"My body is as much a medium as the camera the that captures it. The obvious common thread in my work is myself as the model the performer the subject the photographer. This has become a diary of my subconscious living dreams reenacting struggles of the human condition. This diary like many has been private for some time. It has taken a great deal of trust in humanity to open it up to you. "
Velia Specchio
