STIGMATA

STIGMATA is dedicated to the margins, to amplifying voices from the peripheries of history. We explore the edges, re-digesting history to rethink the future of transnational exchange. Our mission is to challenge cultural norms and reimagine collective futures.

STIGMATA is an artist-run publishing and curatorial platform founded by artist M Lissoni in London, 2024. It brings together artists who share an engagement with decolonial thought, gender, representation in the arts, and resistance to cultural erasure. Independent publishing is its medium; a tool for creating opportunities for collaboration and transcultural dialogue.

M Lissoni, Educastration, Forma Arts & Media, London, 2022 © M Lissoni

Audiovisual installation and live thermal printing performance, in occasion of the release of "Educastration", a video-essay at FormaHQ, London. STIGMATA curated the installation and research library selection in collaboration with Presse Books, London.

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Various Artists, Research Files n.1: The Scar as Archive, STIGMATA, 2024 © Various Artists

In this spread: Pauline Curnier Jardin, "Fat to Ashes".

The inaugural issue of Research Files, "The Scar as Archive", explores concepts of marginalised flesh from a cultural, historical, political and personal perspective. By examining the marginalised body as an archive, this journal explores the tools and methods for preserving embodied knowledge and memory for the future. Through performance art, trans embodiment, religious ecstasy, and autoethnography, it invites 18 contemporary artists and writers to reflect on the complexities of identity and the potential for reclamation.

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Hardcover, 5 booklets + poster, 24 × 17 cm. Edition of 100.

Martyrology is a five year long research project tracing parallels between Renaissance Catholic paintings of martyrdom and scenes from Western horror cinema, questioning iconography and body politics. From the performative rituals of tradition all the way to contemporary gender theory, queer narratives of desire and trans politics. Three chapters – Body / Politics / Eroticism – drawing from de-structured academic research exploring ritualistic violence as performance, the semiotics of female martyrdom and male bodies between pain and pleasure.

In the archives of: Central Saint Martins Special Collections; The Contemporary Art Library at Progetto Gallery, Lecce; Los Angeles Contemporary Archive; The Wellcome Collection; The Women's Art Library, Goldsmiths, London.

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