Paralympic posters: nature, humanity and a life outside the box
For the Paralympic Games, Milano Cortina commissioned five artists to create unique posters that would become the visual symbols of the competition.
“You Love” is the poster created by the youngest of the artists, Clara Woods — a perinatal stroke survivor who, unable to speak, write or read, has found her way to communicate with the world through her art. Two characters are portrayed: Sara, on her snowboard, racing forward with determination; and Nina, who has fallen but rises again, symbolising perseverance.
Roberto de Pinto chose to let nature inspire his work. “I thought it would be fitting to compare the figure of a Para athlete to the snowdrop, a flower that breaks through the ice and snow to blossom. It’s a symbol of hope.”
Andrea Fontanari’s inspiration comes from values of solidarity beyond sport. His poster “Together we play, together we transform” represents two Paralympic skiers supporting each other in the final moments of a race.
“It represents how sport is not only a competition to reach perfection, but also a vehicle for solidarity and a symbol that goes beyond the challenge,” Fontanari explains.
For his poster, Aronne Pleuteri worked on breaking conventions and stereotypes by creating a mix of overlapping figures and colours.
“My poster represents the impossibility of representing. I worked with the idea of escaping visual stereotypes, using a stylised geometric figure drawn in an ingenious way. And from this figure, which works like a cage, I applied lots of colours that go beyond it, beyond this self-imposed limit. It’s about the impossibility of fully representing life.”
Giulia Mangoni, an Italian-Brazilian artist born in 1991 and now based in Lazio, develops her art around the idea of the “ethics of return.” Her poster, “Victory is More Than a Moment”, combines drawing, painting and collage to represent the celebration of Paralympic victory as a joyous and remarkable achievement — one built through the accumulation of moments over time.