Diana Anselmo

Diana Anselmo (1997) is a Deaf and queer activist, performer and visual artist. 

Bilingual LIS and Italian, they debuted in 2021 with their first lecture-performance ‘Autoritratto in tre atti’, presented in various national and international institutions including Culturgest and Casa da Música in Lisbon and Porto; Synergeio Performing Arts Center in Cyprus; Festival Theaterformen in Hannover; DIS_Festival in Novi Sad. 

In 2022 they made their international debut with Le Sacre du Printemps (2022) by Xavier Le Roy, and in the same year they realised You Have to Be Deaf to Understand with three Deaf performers on stage, with which they performed in various international signing venues including Riksteatren Crea, Stockholm; International Visual Theatre – IVT, Paris. 

In 2023 Diana realised ‘ Je Vous Aime – a performance for the hearing’, presented at TSA Teatro Stabile d’Abruzzo and TPP Teatro Pubblico Pugliese.  

In 2024, they presented their first exhibition of visual art ‘Je Vous Aime’ at Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo. In the same year, Diana co-authored the dance performance ‘Monumentum DA’ with Cristina Kristal Rizzo.  

Finally, Diana is accessibility manager and Deaf Cultural Advisor for several cultural institutions. They’re also one of the co-founders and now president of Al.Di.Qua. Artist., the first European professional disabled-led association that advocates for the access rights of disabled artists and disabled cultural workers. 

You Have to be Deaf to Understand

Description: Drawing inspiration from the poem of the same name by W. J. Madsen, the performance stages the embedded experience of deafness, revealing themes such as audism, linguism and
phonocentrism.

Extra information: Performed at Community Festival in Lisbon (Jul '22); Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Edinburgh (Aug '22); Vapore d'Estate in Milan (Sept '22); Sign Language Art Night in Stockholm (Nov '22).

Autoritratto in 3 atti

Description: Lecture performance on the theme of stigmatised identity and the look, declining it from three points of view: the own look, the look immediately and the look reappropriated.

Extra information: Presented at Orlando Festival (ed. 2021), Festival del Silenzio (ed. 2021), Nessuno Resti Fuori Festival (ed. 2021), Lo Sguardo del Gatto Festival (ed. 2021), Festival TENSIONI (ed. 2021), Standards Studio di Milano (oct '21), MAXXI Museum (may '22), DIS_Festival in Novi Sad (set '22), Malefiqa Festival (sep '22), INTERAZIONI Festival (oct '22), Danae Festival (oct '22).

Museo dell'Empatia

Description: Interactive installation on the theme of stigma and the deconstruction of the canon, demystifying the common vulgate on the idea of normality.

Extra information: Published on various Italian journals and presented at Castelfolk Festival (ed. 2020), Festival dell'Economia (ed. 2020), Pergine Festival (ed. 2020), Dolmiti hub (Nov '22).

Lecture performances
Workshops
Speaker on panel discussions