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This December, the Disability Justice Network of Ontario is curating Not (Just) Disabled Bodies: Past(s) and Present(s), an art exhibit around disability justice, at the Central Hamilton Public Library.
And we are looking for YOUR participation!
Our final display is a collaborative project with YOU, our community. To capture the present-day diverse personal experiences of people with disabilities, we ask that you answer AT LEAST ONE of the questions on this form. The deadline to submit for this exhibit is November 26, 2019.
For context, disability justice is premised on an intersectional framework. Audre Lore writes, “We do not live single-issue lives.” Ableism, coupled with white supremacy, supported by capitalism, underscored by heteropatriarchy, has rendered the vast majority of the world “invalid” or “unfit.” As such a large part of what disability justice means involves complicating narratives of disability with histories and representations of lived experience.
The timeline, “Legislation around “Unfit” people in Canada: A History of Disability Rights and Justice in Canada,” researched, assembled, and designed by Miche Xu and Shanthiya Baheerathan asks the audience to consider the overlapping, compounding, and mutually evolving experiences of ableism and racism. The category of ”disability” is contextualized within histories of violence against state-labelled “unfit” populations and contemporary violence against Black and Indigenous people, and racialized immigrants in Canada.
“Access for All is Abolition” by Sahra Soudi, asks and answers the question of what "access for all” means in a context where state violence against Black disabled people is normalized and even expected. The piece is a tribute that honours those whose lives have been taken at the hands of the police here in Canada. Their names have been printed on fabric, and are listed chronologically starting at the top from 2016 - 1996. May they rest in power.
A photo-essay “El Escritorio,” by Constanza Farias was inspired by DJNO’s vision: "Creating a world where people with disabilities are free to be.” By capturing the transformations happening on the desk, it challenges viewers to ask what invisible forces and factors influence the lives of those living with disabilities, and therefore the items on the desk.
The project is part of a collaboration with DJNO and the Hamilton Public Library.
If you have any questions please feel free to email our Youth Action Council at youthcouncil@djno.ca
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