“It’s never just a drawing, art can help us feel”: Antonio Federico Art talks about his Illustrated Humanity

There is an invisible thread that unites all of us, a subtle trait that runs through emotions, silences and glances. It’s that thread that Illustrated Humanity manages to make it visible, with few signs and a depth that reaches straight to the heart.

Behind every drawing, behind every seemingly simple line, there is a powerful message: rediscover what makes us human. In a fast-paced world, where emotions are becoming increasingly rarefied and empathy seems like a luxury, art invites us to stop, to breathe, to really feel.

It’s them, the illustrations of Antonio Federico Art, to talk to us about fragility and love, pain, acceptance and rebirth. They tell the most authentic part of us, the one we often forget to listen to. Complex words are not needed: a sign, a gesture, a trait is enough to remind us that we are all part of a bigger picture – that of life itself, which binds us not only to other human beings, but also to animals and the planet.

In this interview, the artist takes us into the heart of his work, where art becomes a universal language and the creative gesture is transformed into an act of love towards humanity and the Earth.

The “L’Umanità Illustrata” project had a powerful and immediate impact. How was it born?

In reality it all came about very naturally. I don’t think there is a precise moment in which “Umanità Illustrata” was born: I think it has always been within me, in my desire to communicate what I felt. As a child I was very closed and introverted, difficult moments had taken away my smile, drawing was my way of getting in touch with others. I drew with pen on napkins and loose sheets of paper, I couldn’t look for paper when the need to communicate was so immediate.

Then, over time, this need became a language. I started publishing the sketches I made on social media. Thus, spontaneously, “Umanità Illustrata” took shape: not as a planned project, but as something I had always had inside me.

Your illustrations manage to convey profound themes with disarming simplicity. In your opinion, why does visual art have this immediate power to “awaken” consciences?

I firmly believe in the power of the sign, in its immediacy. I have always studied the line, I look for a sign that can encompass everything, that can tell something great in just a few gestures.

I remember when I arrived in Rome for the first time: I was fascinated by the subway. There, among faces and looks of all kinds, I felt that each person had a story to tell. I love observing everything and I like listening to people, it doesn’t take much for me to understand them. We often take many things for granted, we need to value our individualities.

Many of your works talk about bullying, diversity, love and human fragility. If you had to choose one urgent message to convey today, what would it be and why?

I would say: let’s strip ourselves of everything that surrounds us and return to the essence. We seek the authenticity of the human being.

We are intelligent creatures, part of creation, and we should use this intelligence to do good, not to isolate or destroy us. I deeply believe in the spirit and the soul, we are connected to everything that exists. We are part of it.

The message I would like to convey is that of finding ourselves, true peace lies within each of us. We are all connected. Only by rediscovering our humanity can we truly return to living in harmony.

Your drawings have gone viral in delicate moments of news. How do you experience this responsibility of giving “visual form” to such strong collective emotions?

Yes, it’s true, my drawings are often born in difficult moments, but it is also in difficult moments that we learn the most: everything that doesn’t destroy us, shapes us.

Pain is a silent master. It tests us, but at the same time it gives us back the awareness of what really matters.

When everything is going well, we live without thinking too much; when something breaks, however, we realize the value of simple things: breathing, walking, having someone next to us.

I don’t believe that pain is meant to make us suffer, but to make us “feel” again. It is a form of awakening: it brings us back to our most human essence. Many of my drawings have gone viral in delicate moments, and each time I realize how great the responsibility I carry. I believe that this ability of mine to reach far should be used for important purposes. It is a gift, and like any gift it must be used with commitment.

I see it as a mission: to transform emotion into awareness, to give voice to what we often cannot say with words. I like to believe that each of my drawings can be a small seed – something that makes you think, that touches the heart, that awakens empathy. It is this awareness that pushes me to move forward, with gratitude and respect for what I do.

It’s never just a drawing.

https://www.instagram.com/p/DO1sjLDCCro/

We at GreenMe talk about respect every day — for people, for the environment, for life. How much do you think art can help cultivate empathy not only between people, but also towards the planet?

I believe that art can teach “feeling”. Empathy is not only between humans, but towards every form of life. Art, with its visual and symbolic power, can help us recognize the connection we have with the world, with other creatures, with the universe itself.

We are part of a whole, and only by understanding this can we truly learn respect. Art, after all, is a tool to awaken this dormant awareness.

Is there any theme that touches you most, in relation to the social and cultural changes we are experiencing? Or a more significant moment that pushed you to move forward on your journey?

Every social change affects me. What affects me most today is the atrophy of emotions. More and more often I see people who don’t feel, who don’t blush, who no longer get embarrassed, who don’t let anything touch them. Cold people, used to holding everything back.

This is what scares me most: the loss of the ability to feel.

I believe that the most beautiful task that an image can have is precisely that of exciting, of making something vibrate inside those who look at it.

When one of my drawings manages to make millions of unknown people feel close, united by the same feeling, I feel that art has fulfilled its highest purpose. Because emotion is what makes us human, and we must never allow it to go away.

Drawing helps me stay connected to what matters: the truth of emotions. Every time someone writes to me telling me that one of my drawings made them think or move, I feel like I’m going in the right direction. This is what drives me to continue.

If art can be seen as a mirror of society, how do you imagine the evolution of humanity in the future?

I like to think that, despite everything, humanity will be able to find itself. Maybe we will still have to go through difficult times, but I believe that man has a light inside him that never goes out.

Art is the mirror of this light: it reflects our fragility, but also our ability to be reborn. I imagine a future in which humanity will be able to rediscover its essence, its connection with life. A more aware, more empathetic, more true, more HUMAN future.