Spread across two façades of the INAIL building – the entrance and the car park – “Safety First – The Dream” by Giulio Masieri addresses the theme of workplace safety with poetic force, juxtaposing the longing for protection with the harshness of daily reality. The many workplace fatalities that fill the news inspired the artist to imagine a visual narrative that speaks of risk, fall, and rebirth.

At the centre is an elephant with a prosthesis, inspired by Dalí’s surreal creatures, symbolising both the weight of disability and human resilience. The mechanical crutches that support it allude to the strength required to endure the physical and psychological consequences of an accident.

At the entrance, a man teeters on a ladder while painting his own shadow, visually anticipating the possibility of an accident. On the car park side, a family of elephants with prostheses emerges from the INAIL building, representing the return to life after trauma.

Masieri created the work with a highly distinctive pictorial technique, using pigments reminiscent of Renaissance fresco masters. This dialogue between past and present gives the mural both material depth and symbolic resonance.

SUPER WALLS 2025 - Biennale Street Art