“Over the past decade, alongside my roles as a theater and opera director, I have pursued a deep investigation of the Queer art scene that thrived in the 1980s in New York City, particularly in Manhattan.

This research journey has unveiled the work and the stories of numerous artists whose lives were tragically cut short by AIDS. I have chosen to begin with Patrick Angus, Larry Stanton, and Darrell Ellis for an experiment in which, for the first time, I merge my theatrical experience with my passion for storytelling and visual art: a series of “intimate” lecture - performances intended to share with the audience these remarkable existences, lives that have been forgotten for too long and i narrate onstage using my private archives of photos and recordings. The tale of artists’ lives through the voices the images and the words of their custodians.

The project stems from my personal desire and the urge to narrate the stories of friends from the present in dialogue with the specters of the past that have irrevocably marked the course of my life. “A Visual Diary” premiered on May 2nd 2024 in Milano’s historic CRT venue PACTA SAOLONE (VIA ULISSE DINI) renowned for its avant-garde theater program during the 1970s and the 1980’s, where great masters of the stage where presented in Italy, such as Tadeusz Kantor, Bob Wilson, Jerzy Grotowski, and Meredith Monk”.

Fabio Cherstich