Homo Skin, Hetero Masks. A Representation of Italian Homonationalism.

In this critical observation I will focus on images produced by Italian LGBTI community representing homosexuals as regulatory agents of the fatherland and active builder of the national community. From this stand point, these images are crucial to decline an Italian perspective on homonationalism (Puar, 2007). This normative project of national belonging for LGBTI subjects is implemented with many contradictory aspects in Italy, were homosexuals are subjected to a subordinate status of citizenship, without any measure of protection against homophobia nor any kind of civil rights. An approach grounded in cultural studies and visual studies, both as interdisciplinary fields of research and critical tools, will allow me to analyze these images as cultural practice and to point out their ideological implications. Within the theoretical framework provided by Jasbir Puar through the concept of homonationalism I will introduce these images as if they were masks, performative standards of identification/representation.