Jennifer Evans in Exhibition Opening on Queer Persecution in Fascist Italy
In 1939, 45 men between the ages of 18 and 54 were rounded up in the Italian province of Catania and its surrounding area. They were arrested under charges of “passive pederasty,” which entails a crime against masculinity, morality, and jeopardizing the “Italian race”. They were then subjected to invasive medical exams before being exiled to the island of San Domino.
To commemorate Pride Week, the MacEwan Centre for Sexual and Gender Diversity hosted a series of events, including Faces of Exile: The Arrusi and the Policing of Gender and Sexuality, an exhibition of Italian photographer Luana Rigolli’s work in making this story known. It is on display in the John L. Haar Library. Together with Alessio Ponzio of MacEwan University, Rigolli created the exhibit around this unique find, which includes police mug shots, family correspondence, documents from the investigation.
Along with the display, MacEwan hosted an event to celebrate the launch. The panel included Alessio Ponzio, the director of the Centre for Sexual and Gender Diversity, Luana Rigolli, and Jennifer Evans, professor of history at Carleton University.
“Exhibitions like these help us to see injustice. We come away realizing how precious life is, and how it needs to be protected at all costs” Evans remarked in an interview with Alex Bellisle in The Griff. Eva Revitt, associate dean of library operations saw the library as the perfect fit for the exhibition. As Bellisle reports, for Revitt, “the library is a place of discovery, especially the discovery of hidden stories, which makes the space so appropriate for exhibition.”
Asked about the relevance for today’s students, Alessio Ponzio says the exhibition serves as an important reminder: “they were the same age as some of our students. They were forced to abandon their lives. They were forced to leave their families behind. They were forced to quit their jobs. They were isolated on a small island. All because a fascist regime considered them sick.”
The exhibition will remain on display until April 5, 2026.