Covington muralist Andrew Sabori, the son of Sicilian and Spanish immigrants, went to Ellis Island one day in 2003 to find out more about his own heritage.
Instead, he came away obsessed with a monumental mural that once greeted newcomers to these shores, but had been destroyed by storms.
After much gumshoe-detective work and many blind alleys, Sabori hunted down photos of the Ellis Island mural, painted in 1935 by Edward Laning. Then, with the help of high school students in Nevada and the encouragement of his wife, Roberta, he set about making a 90-foot-long recreation. (The original was almost 200 feet long.)
Entitled "The Role of the Immigrant in the Industrial Development in America," the painting shows hardworking Chinese, Italian, Greek and German immigrants building railroads, harvesting timber and digging mines. It is a persuasive poem to the value of the country's new citizens, created in a time of anti-immigration fervor, when new laws reduced arrivals from Southern European countries such as Italy by as much as 90 percent.
This month Sabori's recreated mural goes on display at the National Archives in Morrow, as part of "Coming to America," an exhibition at the archives focusing on immigration.
Displayed previously in Nevada and Utah, the mural arrives at a time echoing with reminders of the 1930s, Sabori noted, during a recent preview of the exhibition. "People are losing their homes, people are out of work," and immigration has become a hot topic, said the 65-year-old painter. "The same thing that was happening then, is happening now."
Twice a month, Morrow provides an apt audience for the mural, when the archives hosts naturalization ceremonies for as many as 300 new citizens at a time, often representing up to 100 different national origins. The ceremony is powerful, said Jim McSweeney, regional administrator at the archives: "It will make the hair stand up on the back of your arm."
In the same room where new citizens swear oaths of allegience, they can now look up and see images of their antecedents coming through Ellis Island. "I can't think of a better captive audience for this mural," McSweeney said. The mural will remain on display until December.
Not newcomers to Georgia, the Saboris lived for a while in Augusta during the run-up to the 1996 Olympics, when he worked painting murals in several of the host cities that were getting dolled up in preparation for the games. In the midst of recreating the Ellis Island mural, from 2003-2008, they lived outside Las Vegas. They returned to Georgia in 2010 and settled in Covington, a handy base of operations while touring the mural around the East Coast.
The mural is painted on canvas in 19 sections that can be rolled up and stowed in the back of the Saboris' Kia hatchback, which he uses to drive the painting from place-to-place. He'd like to see it in a permanent location, perhaps in the Atlanta airport.
"I'd like to have it some place where kids can see it," he said.
Ellis Island: The Lost Mural, is on display at the National Archives at Atlanta, 5780 Jonesboro Road, Morrow, July 21 through December. For information: 770-968-2555; www.archives.gov/southeast
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