A Tribute to Genderfluid Identity

Ze is a stand-alone digital artwork by Ramon Azzopardi Fiott, also known as RAFiott. Created in a neo-fauvist style, this deeply personal piece honours genderfluid and non-binary identity, drawing inspiration from someone dear to the artist: his cousin and “inherited godchild,” Robin Fiott. This painting marks a shift from RAFiott’s usual exploration of struggle and loss, and instead celebrates awe, connection, and lived truth.

At its core, Ze seeks to represent and uplift the often overlooked experiences of genderfluid individuals. The artwork is not only a tribute to Robin, but also a wider reflection on gender expression, self-definition, and fluidity.

“I feel like genderfluidity has opened me up to the world and my most nuanced humanness. For me, and of course, I can only speak for myself through my lived experience, genderfluidity means existing in a liminal space.

A liberating space which transcends the need for gender boundaries, reducing heteronormative expectations to dust – it allows me to explore the simultaneous [un]certainty of being in constant motion and stillness. By this I am referring to the constant motion of being on a gender spectrum through which I fluctuate. To me, gender doesn’t exist as an oversimplified binary – either cismale or cisfemale, transmasc or transfemme. Instead, on any given day or at any moment, I can feel myself align with any part of the gender spectrum – non-binary, female, male, androgynous, more masc, more femme.

Through myself I channel the divine femininity and masculinity, making sure to leave space for both, for everything in between, allowing the spectrum to breathe as it must. I meet myself with the grace to feel out where and how I fall everyday. Genderfluidity affords me a window into exploring an understanding of what it means to be constantly societally carving out space for myself [and how oppressive it feels when I don’t]. This means continually pushing past societal constructs of what it means to exist in a space which is limited through a two-gendered lens [one of the many products of colonialism; read ALOK Vaid-Menon’s work or listen to podcast Finding Our Way by Prentis Hemphill S3Ep2].

I carry myself with the freedom to co-construct, alongside other members of the queer/genderfluid/non-binary/trans communities, the magic behind existing in an expansive, liminal space. This nuance demands more recognition, and in so doing, a dissection and dismantling of socio-political, psychological structures and internalizations of patriarchal, cisgender binaries, steeped in heteronormativity.

The uncertainty as well as the certainty, rests in the fluidity – a part of which feels like I am always waiting to settle into a space of belonging. In saying this however, it is of dire importance to note that this fluidity and the freedom it affords, is very different to, and thus should never be compared to, the transphobic notion of being gender confused. This is an oppressive, colonial term which does not leave any space for the beautiful variety and expansiveness that is transness. This is why the idea of being gender confused must be disempowered.

The fluidity in genderfluidity, is my home. Being able to lean into it, falling into the liminality and uncertainty it lives alongside, has expanded my existence in ways that aligning to a gender binary, even if this is in queerness, could never afford me. Resting in genderfluidity is the most poignant, clear certainty that I will always be able to find myself. Gracing me with what are, in the words of the great Audre Lorde, an opportunity to “be being.” In genderfluidity, regardless of where I fall, I am always me. And that for me is liberation, is freedom, is embodied peace.”

— By Robin [Isabelle Anne] Cassar Fiott (they/them)

Ramon’s sensitivity to the complexities of gender identity stems from his own upbringing. As a child, he witnessed his parents subvert traditional gender roles within their household – a sharp contrast to the gendered expectations placed upon him by teachers and peers. These early insights, along with his journey through his own sexuality and relationships, shaped his ability to think critically about how identity is framed and constrained by social norms.

In both his art and life, Ramon Azzopardi Fiott continually seeks to celebrate individuality and those who defy convention. Figures such as Frida Kahlo and Stormé DeLarverie have long influenced his approach to identity, activism, and self-expression. Yet it is his cousin Robin – whose fluidity and presence invite a more vibrant, honest lens on the world – who infuses this work with a deeply personal clarity.

Ze | Stand-Alone Piece is not only a tribute to a loved one, but also an expression of solidarity with the gender non-conforming, non-binary, and queer community. It’s a visual reminder that authenticity lies in fluidity — that beauty thrives in complexity — and that peace begins when we are truly free to be