New Wing of the City Museum, Rimini,
November 22 – December 15, 2024. Free admission.
Opening on Friday, November 22, at 6:00 PM, with the presence of the artist.
Gianluca Costantini (Ravenna, 1971) is an activist artist who has been fighting his battles through drawing for many years. His work in graphic journalism has documented protest events that have defined the first two decades of this century, from the Egyptian Revolution to the Occupy Gezi protests in Istanbul and the Hong Kong protests of 2019 and 2020. Since 2014, his focus has been primarily on human rights, with a particular emphasis on the conditions of detainees in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, China, Turkey, and Egypt.
His comic stories and illustrations have been published in prestigious outlets and exhibited at major international events, including the HRW Film Festival in London, New York, and Toronto; the Geneva Summit for Human Rights and Democracy; the FIFDH Human Rights Film Festival in Geneva; and the Milan Human Rights Festival. He collaborates with leading human rights organizations and journalist protection groups such as ActionAid, Amnesty, Arci, Emergency, the CPJ (Committee to Protect Journalists), and SOS Mediterranée. In 2019, he was awarded the “Art and Human Rights” prize by Amnesty International.
For the exhibition organized by EducAid, which will open on Friday, November 22, at 6:00 PM at the New Wing of the City Museum in Rimini, Costantini is showcasing over 100 works created between 2014 and 2024. These pieces highlight the artist’s unwavering focus on Palestine and the denied rights of its people. Among the works on display are the Ceasefire Now collection, created to demand an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip; illustrations documenting protest demonstrations at Columbia University in New York; and an impressive gallery of portraits of Palestinian journalists killed since October 7, 2023. Additionally, the exhibition will feature Issa, the Words of Nonviolent Resistance, in which Costantini illustrates the narrative of war correspondent Francesca Mannocchi.
The exhibition is part of the Voices for Gaza series—meetings, readings, exhibitions, and music to promote peace and human rights—organized by EducAid in collaboration with the Emilia-Romagna Region under the 2024 Peace Grant. The event is promoted in partnership with the Province of Rimini; the municipalities of Rimini, Riccione, and Santarcangelo di Romagna; Anthea; CEIS (Centro Educativo Italo Svizzero); Il Millepiedi Social Cooperative; CGIL Rimini; and the Icaro Group.
