Donna Nucci Author, Nurse, Listener
LENA
(Maddalena Simeone)
The Crossing
"At seventeen, I journeyed across the Atlantic, pregnant and unmarried. Onboard, I performed a baptism for a deceased infant and entrusted it to the ocean. In solitude, I discovered my strength and my talents. I landed with a small bag, a hidden truth, and a coin I chose not to use. In Little Italy, I transformed into a midwife, a mother, and ultimately, my true. America did not defeat me."
“The sea takes what you cannot carry.”
Lena 1920
Franny
(Francesca Simeone)
The Quiet Flame
"I cherished a woman who was unable to return my love. I felt muted, as my purpose was to be a nurse—bringing life and offering support in times loss. I nurtured my daughter with unwavering love and passion."
"Sing louder than your shame.”
“There were things I loved that the world asked me to keep quiet.”
Franny New Mexico 1936
Rosalina
"I used to be a free spirit, exploring the Jersey shore with salt in my hair and no direction in life. Love entered my life, followed by three children, leading to quieter years dedicated to caring for others. In the midst of it all, I lost my own melody. But one day, I rediscovered it."
“I was fire”
"I had a voice once. Then I had a life. I am still deciding which one I grieve more."
"I was not unhappy. I was just slowly, quietly, becoming no one."
Rosalina 1965
Lisa
Luciana Benedetta Giuseppina Armstrong
"I grew up in a house full of women's secrets. I just didn't know it yet.
I went to Yale. I built things. I coded platforms that let voices live forever. I thought I was building the future.
That's how you become the keeper of other people's final moments. That's how you learn what silence really costs.
I am my great-great-great grandmother's daughter. She recorded everything too. She just used a notebook and rosemary ink.
The technology changed.
The women didn't."
"Every woman in my family found a way to preserve what the world tried to erase. I just did it with code."
Lisa Armstrong 2001
Angelina Armstrong
The Listener
“Let your voice be loud. Your grief holy. Your love be known.”
“Echoes is not what we lose. It’s what lingers.”
Angelina 2020
"They left me breadcrumbs journals, recipes, rituals.
I followed them back to Italy.
I’m a scientist but also a seeker.
I didn’t expect to find anyone.
But what I found was the voice
I’d been waiting for my own.
And it sounded just like all of them."
Luigia
The River
Knew First
"We were midwives before mothers and wives. We caught babies by the moon, boiled herbs by instinct, and loved in silence. The hills held our grief. The river carried our secrets. What we couldn’t say aloud, we left in journals and recipes."
“Some things
never leave you.
The scent of the river.
The man you loved.
The life you carried in silence.”
Luigia 1890
THE GALLERY
