GENDERQUEER – Transposition of genderqueer challenges through narrative and illustrations
GENDERQUEER is an artist’s book that aims to validate feelings and experiences endured by people who identify as gender-fluid or without any gender. With the help of whimsical illustrations and a poetic manner, it empowers the challenges and feelings endured because of the rigid gender constructs present in Western society, contributing to the eradication of further marginalisation of their experiences.
Social constructs, such as those tied to gender, fail to recognise the vast array of options that surround us and exist solely to satisfy needs that are often taught to us as immutable. We are all aware that it is very difficult to eradicate the complex schemes that form gender construct and it is impossible to do it in just one day, but one step at a time, change is possible, and I would like to contribute with this project to do so.
The journey is not the same for everyone; sometimes it happens sooner, sometimes later, or sometimes it changes several times over the course of a lifetime. But it doesn’t matter so much when or how it happens but rather having circumstances safe enough to allow the free exploration of oneself. Nowadays, there is greater awareness of gender fluidity than there was decades ago, yet there is still a lack of representation. I chose to work on this theme because I want to help queer people feel seen and understood, while conveying that the exploration of one’s identity is not linear. That is the reason why I decided to depict the difficulties
Process
While I was doing research on gender fluidity, I wondered what kind of medium could induce feelings and understanding about it. Since we live in a society where gender assumption is highly based on how the body is displayed, I wanted to divert “attention” from how the body looks while still making it clear that it is about human. I struggled to find the “right shape” for my project, but I understood that illustrations could satisfy my intentions.
The whimsical style gave me permission to explore “magical” possibilities without being limited by societal conventions, and my collaborator, Alexandra Falagara, supported me with the overall narrative and symbols of my illustrations, as well as with the disposition of the typography. Also, the cover had an important role in the process but was made with a simple design. The shape recalls the silhouette of the head of the main character and their bones’ colour, to somehow invite the reader with neutrality to take part in the different challenges and experiences that the protagonist deals with, spread after spread.
References
Maya de Leo, Queer: cultural history of LGBT+ community (Queer: storia culturale della comunità LGBT+), chap. I “Gender queer and sexuality on the threshold of the modern age” and II “Scentia sexualis: 19th century medicine and the inversion”, publisher Einaudi, 2021
Wikipedia, Paul B. Preciado, 16 January 2026
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_B._Preciado
Wikipedia, Judith Butler, 13 February 2026
