Spherical People Tattoo
I made this tattoo for my beloved friend and accomplice @joyo__, ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️based on a Fornasetti plate—an idea brought to me by the incredibly talented @vallellel. We called them the “Spherical People.”
The image is inspired by one of my favorite myths—Plato’s story of the spherical beings, told by Aristophanes in the Symposium. According to the myth, humans were once whole: round creatures with four arms, four legs, and two faces. Zeus, afraid of their power, split them in half. Since then, we’ve been wandering the world looking for our missing part—trying to feel whole again.
It’s beautiful and strange and sad all at once. And it hits even harder when you read it through a queer lens. Some of the original beings were same-sex pairings. Others didn’t fit cleanly into male or female. It’s an ancient story that quietly recognizes what many people still fight to justify today—that love is diverse, that identity doesn’t need to fit into a binary, and that wholeness isn’t one-size-fits-all.
When I first sat with this idea, it felt big. Not just romantic love, but all the ways we try to find ourselves—in other people, in community, in art, in defiance of being told we’re “too much” or “not enough.” Zeus tried to weaken people by splitting them, but somehow, the myth ends up showing how powerful we still are—how deeply we long, and how hard we love.
For me, this piece is about that search. That joy when we catch a glimpse of ourselves in someone else. Through the surreal eye of Fornasetti and the ancient voice of myth, it became something quietly powerful—a small tattoo carrying a huge story.
Plato’s myth of the Spherical People, as told by Aristophanes in Symposium, describes how humans were once whole, spherical beings with four arms, four legs, and two faces. Fearing their power, Zeus split them in half, condemning them to spend their lives searching for their missing part. The story acknowledges diverse forms of love—some people originally belonged to same-sex pairings, making it an early recognition of queer love as natural. Additionally, the myth challenges rigid gender binaries, as the original beings existed beyond conventional male-female distinctions.
This resonates with queer theory, reflecting themes of identity, self-discovery, and the societal fragmentation of queer existence. Much like how Zeus’ punishment weakened people, oppressive social norms attempt to limit LGBTQ+ identities. However, just as the split beings seek wholeness, queer individuals reclaim their identities, love, and community in defiance of imposed limitations. The myth serves as a powerful metaphor for queer resilience, non-binary fluidity, and the fundamental human right to love freely.
This project takes inspiration from this myth, reinterpreting its vision of human nature through the lens of a late Fornasetti design. By blending classical symbolism with surrealist aesthetics, it explores themes of identity, connection, and the innate desire for completeness.
Jorge
Anselm Feuerbach, “Das Gastmahl” (2nd version, 1874). On the left, the drunk Alkibiades, standing in the centre, the host Agathon, on the right Socrates and Aristophanes. Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/. Public domain
The face of the opera singer Lina Cavalieri, Piero Fornasetti's muse.