When I was asked to give an image to Erica Monaci's research — an anthropological study on Naples' ballroom scene, the result of her work at Ca' Foscari — I chose to enter the context before putting pen to paper. A new universe, a community with a powerful and codified aesthetic, a visual language to approach with respect and curiosity, before anything resembling a brief.
What emerged was a series of illustrations that don't simply translate the book, but share its space: bodies in motion, fluid identities, colours that surface with force. The community portrayed in the study made them their own, carrying them beyond the page and into their own activities. The most meaningful sign a graphic project can receive.
