Edited by Simona Sabato
We live in an era of profound transition. Identities are no longer fixed categories, but fluid, intersectional, constantly evolving territories.
In this complex scenario, theart and design no longer merely reflect the world: they interpret it, criticise it, recreate it. They become instruments of representation, but also of emancipation and transformation.
In recent years, cultural institutions have begun to open up - not without difficulty - to the plurality of experiences.
The exhibition Fashioning Masculinities, at Victoria & Albert Museum, LondonHe investigated the historical and cultural construction of masculinity, mixing fashion, classical art and pop culture.
An operation that challenged the stereotype of the strong, white, heteronormative man, restoring dignity to alternative expressions of masculinity.
At the same time, museums such as the MoMA in New York have devoted space and attention to queer, trans, non-binary and diasporic art practices, contributing to the emergence of narratives that have too long remained on the margins of official discourse.
Even in design, the change is tangible.
Projects focusing on inclusivity are multiplying: gender-free toilets, furniture for sensory autism, adaptive fashion.
La designer Lucy Jonesfor example, designs clothes for people with motor disabilities, based on listening carefully to the real needs of the users.
An approach that redefines the relationship between form and function, but above all between design and person.
Graphics, branding and visual language are progressively abandoning homologising canons. Fonts accessible even to those with reading or visual impairments, illustrations depicting bodies of different ethnicities, ages, abilities, genders are taking hold. The most forward-looking advertising campaigns no longer pursue an aesthetic standard, but try to reflect the real variety of society.
Packaging, often a faithful mirror of cultural prejudices, is beginning to free itself from colour codes and gender rhetoric, preferring neutral, inclusive and more language-conscious solutions.
Words also count: non-binary copywriting, descriptions that avoid stereotypes, narratives that convey complexity are emerging. Today, beauty is no longer synonymous with symmetry or perfection. It is visual empathy, recognition, listening. Art and design do not decorate, but tell stories that had been silenced, question the 'normal', open up new spaces to imagine a more equal society. In this context, creating also means including: because to represent means to exist.
