Paralympic champion Simone Barlaam leads art workshop at BAM Winter Festival

Simone Barlaam, a 23-year-old Milanese Paralympic swimmer with 4 Paralympic golds and 23 world titles, will conduct a creative workshop on December 21, 2025, at BAM (Biblioteca degli Alberi Milano), a project of Fondazione Riccardo Catella, as part of the BAM Winter Festival. The festival focuses on Paralympic values ahead of the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics and Paralympics. Barlaam, who has a congenital malformation of the right femur and underwent 12 childhood surgeries, took up swimming for rehabilitation and later developed a passion for drawing. His artistic interest led him to join the Olympian Artists program by the Olympic Museum in Lausanne. At the workshop, participants will draw on canvases depicting Paralympic sport icons, connecting to themes of snow, mountains, and Paralympic values. Barlaam previously led a similar workshop at the Olympic Museum during Olympic Week in October 2025, where children created 400 colored snowflakes to form Olympic rings and Paralympic agitos. He is currently studying at an academy in Rome specializing in art direction and concept art, aiming to turn his drawing passion into a profession, though he acknowledges the uncertain impact of AI on creative fields. BAM's general cultural director Francesca Colombo highlighted that Barlaam's participation embodies the intersection of culture, sport, and art.