A dragon, a symbol of legends and fairytales, is in my image of mythical beast a symbol of my lost dreams...and lost freedom for the Italian people.
A dragon (according to myth) has arms and legs....but mine has NO arms nor legs: it is maimed.
My dragon is the symbol of lost freedom as the result of the new restrictive Italian law, passed in 2004, regulating assisted reproduction technology, which made it illegal for doctors to carry out pre-natal genetic diagnosis of embryos.
What does this mean exactly? Pre-natal genetic diagnosis is applied in cases when couples are suffering from some sort of genetic disease and would not want their baby to suffer the same fate.
The restrictive legislation adopted in 2004 has raised the ire of many Italian couples whose hopes for having a child rest on modern scientific developments. The law passed in Italy has caused serious problems to couples and you can imagine why.
Therefore, this dragon has no arms nor legs: they have been amputated by the italian system which seems to have crippled many couple's hopes and dreams.