Kimura Gallery: 'Cultural Perceptions of the Disabled in Art and Art History' on display through Feb. 23, 2017

by Michelle Saport  |   

Cultural Perceptions of the Disabled in Art and Art History Kimura Art Gallery (Fine Arts Building, Room 222) Jan. 23-Feb. 23, 2017 Film screenings: Monday-Friday, 5:30-7 p.m. Gallery hours: Monday-Friday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.; Saturday, 1-3 p.m.

Sue Austin performing underwater with her wheelchair, 2012, still from the Freewheeling video

Sue Austin performing underwater with her wheelchair, 2012, still from the Freewheeling video

Visual culture is a wide-ranging phenomenon. It manifests itself in a variety of ways and in the instance of how we perceive the disabled at a global level our perceptions are diverse and complicated. There are various queries that can be raised and fundamental to the issues surrounding the disabled is what does it mean to be human? What constitutes the human body? What is a normal/abnormal body and how has this dichotomy been articulated as it relates to the disabled? How have artists affirmed or subverted assumptions of the normative body? Finally, consider how the body, the post human and cyborgs have been represented in relation to the politics of identity, digital and bio-technologies. As Jeffrey Deitch underscored in his seminal exhibition Post Human (1992) pointed out: "Social and scientific trends are converging to shape a new conception of self, a new construction of what it means to be a human being."

This exhibition attempts to address these questions from sundry positions. In the main gallery there will be two films screened on alternating days for the duration of the exhibition (Jan. 23-Feb. 17). The two films are "FIXED: The Science /Fiction of Human Enhancement" (2013) and "Sins Invalid: An Unashamed Claim to Beauty in the Face of Invisibility" (2013). Positioned in front of the partitions will be a range of examples focusing on disabled performances to supplement and expand on the issues raised by the films screened in the main gallery. The films and performance clips are entry points into how we view the "disabled" as opposed to the "abled."

Check out these other exhibits currently on display at the campus art galleries:

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