Allan Antliff is one of the most respected international scholars of art and anarchism. He is a professor at the University of Victoria in Canada, where he directs the Anarchist Archive — a unique repository dedicated to collecting, preserving, and providing access to documents related to the history and practices of anarchism in Canada (anarchistarchive.uvic.ca).
His research ranges from radical modernism to the intersection of aesthetics, politics, and direct action. Antliff focuses in particular on how historical and contemporary anarchist currents shape artistic and cultural production. He has published influential essays and edited several notable anthologies, such as Thinking as Anarchists (link). He is the art editor of Anarchist Studies, a leading UK journal for interdisciplinary anarchist scholarship (link), and serves as editor-in-chief of Anarchist Developments in Cultural Studies (link). He is also an active member of Canadian anarchist collectives, including Camas Books, the Victoria Anarchist Bookfair, and the Victoria Anarchist Reading Circle.
Collaboration with Gianluca Costantini
The dialogue between Antliff and Costantini has deep roots: in 2006, Costantini published a comic written by Antliff titled Quei maledetti che bruciano le bandiere (Those Damned Ones Who Burn Flags) in issue no. 9 of inguineMAH!gazine, the magazine he curated and which was published by Fernandel, a well-known publishing house based in Ravenna. This collaboration marked an early moment of exchange between the two, centered on the relationship between art and political action. (Download magazine)
Costantini’s work on Palestine
During his recent visit to my studio, Allan Antliff explored in depth the project I have been developing since 2004 on Palestine — a long-term commitment spanning illustrations, graphic journalism, protest posters, portraits of activists and victims, social campaigns, and collaborations with NGOs and independent media.
Through drawing, I tell the stories of ordinary people, political prisoners, journalists, and Palestinian artists, giving them visibility and voice within a conflict often sidelined by mainstream media. My works have been shown in international exhibitions, published in global outlets, and used as advocacy tools by human rights organizations. This visual archive now stands as one of the most extensive and coherent artistic testimonies dedicated to Palestine.
A necessary exchange
The meeting between Allan Antliff’s research and my artistic and political work made it possible to take stock of more than twenty years of production dedicated to Palestine, at a time when the situation in that land and for its people remains tragic. Organizing this visual memory has also been an opportunity to plan new ways of telling these stories and to imagine collective solidarity and mobilization for the future.
