World Day Against Violence Against Women, during the Venice Cup and Youth League, artist Elena Ketra brings to the stage ‘Luchadoras’, a performance that fuses artistic activism and female self-defence, enhancing inclusion, empowerment and contamination between creative and sporting languages. The workshop is led by Maestro Stefano Cacco, FIJLKAM technician. Jute Sport (Official Distributor Adidas Combat Sports in Italy) is technical sponsor of the happening.
A few days before the World Day against Violence against Women, on the occasion of the Venice Cup and the Youth League, scheduled from 3 to 7 December at the Palazzo del Turismo in Jesolo, the artist Elena Ketra presents ‘Luchadoras’, a performative intervention that interprets the theme of female self-determination through a participatory experience of self-defence. The happening is part of the great international karate autumn, which brings Venice Cup Senior, Parakarate Cup and Youth League to the city with athletes from over 80 countries.
The “Luchadoras” project, supported by the Fondazione Solares delle Arti di Parma and curated by Cesare Biasini Selvaggi and Uros Gorgone, takes inspiration from the iconic female wrestlers of the Mexican lucha libre as symbols of agency and transformative power. It unites artistic practice, activism and direct involvement through a basic self-defence course aimed in particular at girls and women, conducted in locations dedicated to art but also in “unconventional” spaces, to emphasise the need to bring art outside institutions and into real life, as a tool for empowerment and combating gender violence.
The self-defence workshop is led by Maestro Stefano Cacco, a technician of the Italian Judo Lotta Karate Martial Arts Federation (FIJLKAM), with long experience in disseminating the fundamentals of self-defence. His contribution enables participants to acquire body awareness and personal protection tools through an accessible, safe and educational approach.
An Italian multidisciplinary artist, trained at the Accademia di Belle Arti in Venice, Elena Ketra focuses her research on female empowerment, inclusion and self-awareness, interweaving pop aesthetics, queer culture and social criticism. Her works – including Girlpower, Serialmirrors, Utereyes and the digital performance Sologamy – explore alternative models of self-determination and resistance, confronting the most current social and cultural tensions, from gender issues to evolving identity dynamics.
Multisport Veneto is a partner in the initiative and, in addition to organising the karate events in Jesolo, promotes projects that enhance wellbeing, inclusion, and the dissemination of sports culture in the area.
Jute Sport (Official Distributor Adidas Combat Sports in Italy) is a technical sponsor of the happening and dresses the participants in customised ‘Luchadoras’ T-shirts, specially made to emphasise the union between artistic performance, sporting discipline, and a message of empowerment.
“Luchadoras”, a project that also has the media support of Exibart and Supermartek, thus becomes a choral action that interweaves different languages – visual arts, performance, combat sports – to strongly emphasise the need to raise awareness, educate and create a community around the theme of combating gender violence. An invitation to rediscover the body as a place of strength, identity and self-determination in days when the debate on violence against women is increasingly heated.
