Claudia Battisti

☞ Claudia Battisti, aka 𝕸𝖆𝖉𝖆𝖒𝖊 𝕾𝖊𝖎𝖙𝖆𝖓 (she/her ♀), class 1994, Made in Italy

☉ Scorpio ↑ Sagittarius ☽ Virgo

Intersectional feminist ♥

Tarot enthusiast ✰

My sun in Scorpio makes me a passionate and authentic, yet power-hungry, type of person. I have the urge to get to the bottom of things and for speaking the truth.

The Moon in Virgo rules my emotions. I am, in fact, very analytical and responsible. Sometimes too picky and I am driven by the need to be pure.

I find myself in my comfort zone when talking politics, faith and education.

Finally, I am a Sagittarius rising, which makes me a very independent and restless woman.

I define myself as a ❝ Plants eater, queer, punk witch ❞

My background as art director and graphic designer continues to influence my practice, and it still continues to do so. I am involved in activism, specifically with climate change and animal rights. I've become an organiser of the Climate Save Switzerland and militant in Milano Animal Save. I also take part in conventions and workshops with the Milan based collective Filler, which has its roots in the Italian punk DIY scene.

Activism and collaboration have been the two words that have characterised my practice since I have arrived at the Royal College of Art.

During my journey in finding a methodology for my practice I became more and more familiar with Tarot Cards, very ancient tools of self-discovery and analysis.

Tarot taught me that human connection is something that cannot be broken even when we have important physical barriers, they enable us to connect to each other and communicate no matter our backgrounds or experiences. I believe that the same mystical charm belongs to tattoos, the other face of my practice.

Both are beautiful artefacts that help us reconnect to what we have inside and bring it to the surface.

Tarot Cards, like Tattoos, can be a powerful tools to embody the changes that we want to enact in our daily lives. My practice is about researching the contemporary meanings of the archetypal symbols present in both Tarot Cards and Tattoos to make them more accessible and inclusive.

During my journey at the RCA, designing workshops has become the primary aspect of my work and something that I aim to continue to do in the outside world too. I am here to challenge educational systems and help to shape new ones.

I aim to create safer spaces for people of all genders and backgrounds, both online and in real life, to discover new creative practices or to help approach theirs with new eyes.

Launch Project

Madame Seitan's portrait — Photo by Francesco Berra, Editing and Make up by Claudia Battisti

Visit my website to both know more about my practice and book an online session with me.

You will find me in my Zoom Room for talking about my practice and your curiosities, on the following dates:

» 26th of June 6.15-6.45 pm

» 27th of June 3.15-3.45 pm

» 28th of June 6.15-6.45 pm

I will be live streaming from the Ugly Duck, during the Visual Communication cohort show "Terminal".

Find me there in the Library between the 26th and the 28th of June, come and meet me to have a reading experience in real life.

♥

Medium:

online website

Size:

∞

The Template deck (7x12 cm) — This deck will be given at the beginning of each workshop session. It is printed on FSC-certified uncoated papers using soya/rice bran-based Riso inks, to be as much environmentally-friendly as possible.

The Tarot Symbols, visual booklet (A4, front)

The Tarot Symbols, visual booklet (A4, back)

Drawing the Reading: the first steps — Screenshots showing the first days of "Drawing the Reading", from open readings on Instagram to the first trials of the workshop (online and then in person, when it became safe to do so).

★ ☆ ★ ☆

I have started studying the Tarot Cards symbology and reading them during the first lockdown in 2020.

Soon after that, when I shared this new practice with my friends and colleagues, several people reached out to me to have their cards read. Even if separated by kilometres and screens, the cards connected us to a deeper level. It was finally when I began the expanded practice “Deep Space” that I embraced this practice completely and turned it into a creative methodology and a tool to access inspiration and clarity.

Drawing the Reading was born like this: building on the traditional concept of Tarot Readings, this project wants to be an educational experience and a safer space for who will take part. This workshop focuses on the Major Arcana symbols, the first 21 cards of a Tarot cards deck. During the show I will be hosting live sessions in person and online. During these sessions I will draw together with the people taking part using the Tarot Deck. The drawings will be based on the Tarot Reading made that day using the Rider-Waite Tarot Cards deck. Everything will be explained with awareness of diversities and gender-non conforming identities.The aim is to create an inclusive, collaborative and non hierarchical experience where to build new narratives and stimulate others to re-shape this practice based on their experience.

You will find more about it on my personal website.

★ ☆ ★ ☆

Medium:

paper, riso printing

Size:

A4, 7x12 cm

Fiction Inclusive Performance Ritual Speculative Futures Workshop

Anti-Speciesist Pocket Manifesto — Mock up of the six pages zine, with poster at the back.

Window Cleaner Society is a non-profit arts organisation/open platform established at the Royal College of Art in 2019. We aim to blur the boundaries between art and activism.

During the traditional RCA Christmas Fête, we took part generating zines about rights (Protesting in public space, Police power, When being arrested) and an anti-speciesist "pocket manifesto".

This last one was my contribution inspired by the dissertation I delivered last year: "Diary of an anti-speciesist activist - Why do we need a new manifesto for the movement to pursue total liberation?".

Medium:

ink on paper

Size:

A4 (29.7x42 cm)

Activism Environmental Justice Female publication

Claudia Battisti

Medium:

Size:

Medium:

Size:

Medium:

Size:

Social

About

Royal College of Art