Christina Papaleo

Braving in the Arena

Braving in the Arena, graphite pencil drawing by Christina Papaleo
A graphite pencil drawing of a tiger eye in the upper left corner and a pair of boxing gloves extending below it into the bottom right-hand corner.

Faithful Friend

Faithful Friend, a graphite pencil drawing by Christina Papaleo.
A graphite pencil drawing of a Cairn Terrier face. The terrier’s head is slightly tilted and grinning.

A Storyteller’s Legacy: In Loving Memory of Grandpa John F. Papaleo (September 20, 1926 – November 11, 2019)

A Storyteller's Legacy: In Loving Memory of Grandpa John F. Papaleo (September 20, 1926 - November 11, 2019), a graphite pencil drawing by Christina Papaleo.
A graphite pencil drawing of a portrait of my late Grandpa John. Grandpa John has short white hair, wearing a polo and is laughing. On the bottom, left-hand corner are two footprints in the sand. On the bottom, right-hand corner is a hand drawing a heart in the sand.

Never Far from Love

Never Far from Love, a colored pencil drawing by Christina Papaleo.
A colored pencil drawing of a red cardinal sitting on a branch in between two tall bare paper white birch trees. The red cardinal’s face is looking to the left.

Beauty in Brokenness

Beauty in Brokenness, a graphite pencil drawing by Christina Papaleo.
A graphite pencil drawing of a young woman with her eyes tightly closed while her hand is covering her mouth. Near the upper middle part of the drawing is a piece of paper with a drawing of an eye that is broken like a piece of glass. To the right of the young woman is a butterfly emerging from a cocoon. Drawing pencils and an eraser lay in between the young woman and the butterfly/cocoon.

About the Artist

Christina Papaleo is an advocate, an artistic creator, and a disabled woman. She believes that the greatest challenge in life is discovering who you are, and the second greatest challenge is choosing what to do with what you have discovered. Christina has chosen to embrace creativity as a place of empowerment, to develop a transformational opportunity for her visual impairment to serve as a part of her identity, not as a medical diagnosis. When she is not in her sketchbook, Christina serves as a Disability Access Counselor in the Office of Disability Services at Syracuse University, having joined the SU community in August 2019.

Back to Art | Back to Volume 14, Issue 1 – March 2020