To mark Pride Month, the Italian Cultural Institute in Tel Aviv is presenting “Fumetti arcobaleno. Pride in Italian Comics”: an exploration of the complexity of relationships and identity in a colourful alphabet of illustrations and words from Italian comics. Throughout the world, June is Pride month, a month dedicated to the rights of the LGBTIQ+ community.
To mark this, each Monday, Wednesday and Friday until 17 June 2002, on its social channels — Facebook and Instagram — the Italian Cultural Institute will be featuring some of the most recent works of the ninth art, telling the story of non-heterosexual relationships and non-cisgender identities. An exploration that traces the sequence of the LGBT+ initialism and begins with the delicate lesbian love stories of “Hai mai notato la forma delle mele?” by Mabel Morri. It continues with the regrets of the ending of Antonio’s love for Tancredi in “Un anno senza te” by Luca Vanzella and Giopota.
The complexity of the queer world is conveyed through the images of the three self-produced anthologies Melagrana (Attaccapanni Press), Gen(der)re/Genere (Lökzine) and Kardiakia (Ehm Autoproduzioni). Gender identity is addressed with the personal graphic novel “Play with Fire” by Nicoz Balboa. The journey ends with a rapid round-up of the comic authors who – using digital comics – have made their names by telling stories, some autobiographical, others not, with a queer theme. These have gone on to become social media reference points for readers.
