Library exhibition examines neo-fascist propaganda techniques in contemporary Ro…

The Fresno State Library presents “Where Monsters Are Born: Documenting a Fascist Revival in the Streets of Rome, 2018-2019,” an exhibition that critically examines the rise of neo-fascism in Italy through the lens of visual and spatial propaganda. The exhibition will run from Jan. 27 to March 22 at the library’s Pete P. Peters Ellipse Balcony Gallery, and is free and open to the public during regular library hours.

The exhibition opens with a presentation and reception at 3 p.m. on Jan. 27 at the Fresno State Library, and features materials collected by Dr. Brian J. Griffith during his time in Rome on a Fulbright Fellowship. Visitors will encounter posters, stickers, handbills and banners, many of which were “harvested” directly from the streets of Rome by Griffith during his time in Italy. 

According to Griffith, a historian at Fresno State, the exhibition offers an unsettling look at the strategies employed by Italy’s neo-fascist groups to insert their views into the public sphere, including design, selective memory and historical revisionism, to normalize far-right ideologies and shape public consciousness.

Griffith emphasizes the importance of recognizing and resisting these ideologies, particularly as Western democracies grapple with the rise of extremist movements. “In recent years, we have seen authoritarian ideas increasingly infiltrate the public sphere. By understanding the strategies these groups use, we can better combat their spread,” Griffith said. “The exhibition illuminates the visual and spatial tactics used by far-right groups to push their politics into public spaces, challenging us to critically engage with the ways propaganda shapes our worldviews and the politics of memory.”

The exhibition title is drawn from the words of Italian philosopher Antonio Gramsci, who wrote in his “Prison Notebooks”: “The old world is dying. The new one is slow to appear. And in this interregnum, monsters are born.” 

Griffith’s research focuses on how fascism, political violence and far-right populism undermine democratic principles. He is a faculty member in the Department of History at Fresno State and curator of this exhibition. The materials he collected in Rome, which reflect the history of Italy’s far-right movements, were donated to the Center for the Study of Political Graphics in Los Angeles. The exhibition also includes reproductions of these items.

For more information or inquiries about the exhibition, visit library.fresnostate.edu or contact Dr. Brian J. Griffith at brianjgriffith@csufresno.edu.