Fabiano Lioi from Italy is an actor, musician and artist with OI. He has published an artistic catalog which is also and above all a journey to discover a condition unknown to many, namely Osteogenesis imperfecta. This interview was first published in OIFE Magazine in spring 2018.

Who are you and what do you do?

My name is Fabiano Lioi, for other people I am an actor and musician taking his first steps in the field of contemporary art. I’d rather call myself a collector of human relationships and a revolutionary. This is what I answer when people ask me what my job is…

In what way has OI affected your art?

I do not know. I have always been aware that I suffered from OI and I do not know what neurotypical people (or common ones) experience in their lives. My parents have taught me to always give my best. Nothing is impossible. You just need willpower, a strong neck, a smile on your face and a little imagination. My art has been influenced by the love for life my family taught me and by my strong mood, rather than by OI.

What is “O.I. ART IN A FRACTURE” about?

“O.I. Art in a Fracture” is an art project or a contemporary art exhibition made of 20 works (scan images), two sculptures in wood, paper, glass and mirrors. There are also eleven stories (some are autobiographical) and twelve interviews with doctors, relatives and friends of people affected by OI. None of the people that were interviewed is my relative or friend.

How did it develop?

One day I was looking at old X-ray scans of old fractures. I chose one and I took a picture of it just for fun, then I doubled the same image and I started overlaying several images, pointing a light at them and creating new images. I wanted to give a name to each image, so I invented a character called Kim and started using stories in order to explain the images. That’s how I had the idea of depicting OI through an art exhibition.

What are your hopes for your project?

I would like to create itinerant exhibitions that travel the world starting from Rome, explaining and telling people that you can and must live a full life with OI. You can find this work in a box set and a book in English, Italian and Spanish. I will keep translating this work into the languages of all the nations that will host the exhibition.

What kind of work do you most enjoy doing?

I am versatile; I like doing everything, but with one common factor: FUN. I need to have fun whenever I do something. I just love being tested.

What’s your favorite art work?

All my works are my favorite ones, from the beginning till the end! Once I finish them, they are no longer my favorite ones, as they are no longer mine but belong to everyone. I am truly convinced that art does not belong to those who make it, but to people who use it and make it theirs.

What role does the artist have in society?

Artists have always been society reviewers, both in a positive and negative way. This is a wakeup call. Just think about “The Garden of Earthly Delights” by Hieronymus Bosch and the way it gives a preview of human destiny! In his first paintings Caravaggio used characters with few or none holy features and turned them into saints and madonnas. That was his personal way to criticize the Church’s work at his time. The latest, real contemporary artist was John Lennon. The modern artist are no longer a reviewer of society as he is afraid of losing his fame, leaving room to mediocrity.

You can visit Fabiano’s official page here: https://www.fabianolioi.com/

And the video below you can see an interview with Fabiano Lioi about his project “O.I. L’arte in un frattura”. The video has captioning in Italian and you can choose auto translation to get captioning in other languages.