Dispelling Myths About Artists Living With Disabilities

By Gennifer Harding-Gosnell

“Able-bodied folks feel that, if you’re in a chair, you’re disabled, and if you’re not in a wheelchair, then ‘suck it up, buttercup, figure it out.’

Kristi Copez, The Fire Next Time, 2018, Relief print, 24 x 18″

“Wheelchair, disabled. No wheelchair, not disabled.”

It’s just one of the many myths imposed on people living with disabilities, explains Megan Alves, Marketing and Program Manager for the Artists Archives of the Western Reserve as well as curator of the AAWR’s W/O Limits: Art, Chronic Illness, & Disability Exhibition, featuring all works by artists currently living with long-term disease or disabilities.

She explains the idea for this exhibition came from her own experiences with a chronic illness: “Going through that and you know, all of the medical circus that surrounds all of that. So, sitting with this, I [thought], ‘how can I turn this experience into something that I can both share with people in an empathetic fashion to encourage change in advocacy through not just empathy but disability, and how can I support these artists and provide a platform that is not asking them to ignore their physicality in order to be professional artists but embracing and inclusive of all the different experiences.’ This is a great opportunity for platforming these artists, and from a personal perspective, it’s really helped me come to grips with what is sort of the ‘Sword of Damocles’ of a prognosis that they can’t do much with.”

The exhibition features artists in many different mediums—sculpture, performance art, photography, and paintings, to name a few. Local award-winning artists like Kristi Copez and Kate Snow will have their works featured, as well as nationally-exhibited artists like Arabella Proffer and the late Chappelle Letman. Most were artists prior to becoming disabled or chronically ill.

Proffer’s work actually began to change just prior to knowing her cancer diagnosis, as if she had “seen” what was happening inside her body. “Prior to knowing her diagnosis,” explains Alves, “she started switching her work from figurative portraits, that were stunning, to these isomorphic structures with all these tendrils. Interestingly enough, when they did the [medical] imagery, [her art had] mirrored the tumors that were all throughout her body.”

Arabella Proffer, Tantalize, 2018, Oil on canvas, 16 x 20″

An important aspect of the exhibition is to showcase the professionals over their disabilities and to change the way others think having a disability is like. Many artists develop chronic illnesses or disabilities that have no physical effect on their ability to create—it’s just something that has to be lived through alongside their work. Some use their art as a tool for expressing their feelings about having become disabled or ill.

“[Other people may] see the disability first [if] you frame it that way,” says Alves. “Instead of seeing these amazingly talented people who have been to art school… and done the work, [and] their practices are ferocious and beautiful and… powerful, versus, ‘My, how nice of those disabled people to draw us pictures.’”

Workshops at the exhibition range from programs on communicating with autism to puppet-making workshops that allow participants to create images of themselves. Alves explains, “The idea is to create an identity puppet, something that represents yourself or something you want to be or something you hope you are. You can make something that’s basic, [and then choose props to add to your puppet.] [They] take these cool little identity markers, and put them on in a way that feels significant and resonates with them internally. I’m psyched about it!”

The W/O Limits: Art, Chronic Illness & Disability exhibition at the Artists Archives of the Western Reserve runs now through November 12. For more information, see the AAWR’s website.

Deep Roots Experience Art Gallery

By Gennifer Harding-Gosnell

In a small brick building on the corner of E. 79th St. and Central Ave. sits an enclave of hope—four small window front shops: a soul food diner & carryout, a Bernie Sanders campaign office, a shop called the Negro Cultural Center, and on the corner, the Deep Roots Experience Art Gallery.

People have brought their dreams to this place before.

David Ramsey is the founder and co-owner of the Deep Roots Experience Art Gallery. “We first started the gallery as a response to a program for youth we managed at the detention center,” he explains. “We did not have a place to direct participants to once they were released from the system, and it illuminated for us the importance of representation. We also quickly realized there were no spaces dedicated to celebrating and sharing our art in the way that we do.”

The gallery hosts black and brown artists exclusively, most recently featuring the “Remix” art show, a collection of works by Cleveland artists re-visioning their most meaningful album covers. Jay-Z, N.E.R.D., Kanye West, and Future all get “remixed”.

“[We wish to] both empower black and brown artists while providing tangible examples of what success in artistry in career and execution looks like for other black and brown people,” says Ramsey. “Providing space for our work to be received and shared in ways that speak to our culture is an important part of our work.

“What makes us valuable to the city is the intentionality of providing high-level art experiences, while being directly reflective of the community that makes up more than half the residents of Cleveland. We represent over half the city in a way that other spaces have not accepted as part of their mandate.”

When asked about any benefit from the newly-opened Opportunity Corridor, Ramsey said, “[it] is convenient but has not impacted traffic into our space directly. We would love to see more traffic, but without other businesses and investment into the neighborhood, we likely will not see much value from the new traffic patterns. We have ambitions of inspiring other black businesses to come to this community and invest to see it grow. Encourage black and brown Millennials and Gen X to move into the community and invest in a neighborhood. Our vision is to see communities densely populated by black and brown people invested in by people who are members of that same culture.”

Deep Roots is currently hosting the SheArt Exhibition Series, featuring the works of black and brown women, now through August 14th. The theme of this exhibit is the meaning and messaging of the 1997 cult-classic film “B.A.P.S.”

“Historically, black Americans have not been able to fully connect to any culture because our culture was stripped from us,” says Ramsey. “We worked to create customs and culture that speak to us, but for years we have been conditioned to reject ownership of those [successes] when accepted by dominant culture. Once it is seen as valuable, then we give it to whoever wants it. Black culture and entertainment is one of America’s most valuable exports and has been for decades. It is our vision to own the culture and define it without giving it to others; to celebrate us and share our culture without allowing it to be co-opted by others.”

For more info on the Deep Roots Experience Art Gallery, including inquiries about the artwork, see their website and Instagram page.