(DIS) PLAYED: A MERICAN A BLE AND THE D ISPLAY OF C ONTEMPORARY D ISABILITY A RT

B Y E LIZABETH M. S WEENEY

S UPERVISOR: N ANCY V IVA D AVIS H ALIFAX A DVISOR: K AREN S TANWORTH

A RESEARCH PAPER SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE PROGRAM IN CRITICAL DISABILITY STUDIES IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS, GRADUATE PROGRAM IN CRITICAL DISABILITY STUDIES YORK UNIVERSITY, TORONTO, ONTARIO, M3J 1P3 DATE OF SUBMISSION: JANUARY 29, 2012

A BSTRACT

This major research paper provides preliminary contributions to a contemporary discourse on curating and displaying disability art. To do this it undertakes a case study and critical analysis of a contemporary disability art photo series, American Able (2009-

2010), and its public installation in the 2010 exhibit, Contacting Toronto: What’s the

Hype? The case study raises a number of issues about the creative process, particularly between disabled and non-disabled artists, as well as the impact of artist statements on audiences and the media. Substantial concerns about the understanding of cultural appropriation as it relates to disability are raised, indicating the need for further research in this area. The public’s medical curiosity about the disabled model in American Able, signals the impact of the freak show on contemporary disability art which in turn signals to curators to find ways to acknowledge this curiosity without necessarily indulging it.

Several exhibition examples from the United States, Britain and Canada highlight the importance of incorporating themes of disability and disability art into exhibitions, as well as demonstrate recent challenges, systematic barriers and successes. The paper concludes that diverse collaborative curatorial committees, with thorough understandings of disability art and the history of displaying disability, may be best suited to curate disability art exhibitions, and that arts professionals must consider the complexities of artistic process, cultural appropriation and public interpretations during exhibition development. Within the appendices, readers will find practical tools, including resources, strategies and reflective questions to support the development of curatorial practice for disability art exhibitions.

1 C ONTENTS

List of Illustrations 3 Acknowledgments 4

INTRODUCTION 5

PART I A CASE STUDY OF AMERICAN ABLE 15 The Beginning 16 Description of the Exhibition and the Artwork 18 The Artist Statement 21 The Intention 22 The Creative Process 26 The Curator 28 The Media and the Audience 34

PART II HISTORICAL CONTEXT AND CONTEMPORARY DISCOURSE 40 The Freak Show 40 Contemporary Disability Art 43 Disability, sexuality and gender 45 Art, public space and activism 47 Exploration, Exploitation, Appropriation or all of the above? 49

PART III CURATORIAL CONSIDERATIONS 57

CONCLUSION 66 Appendix I Research methods 69 Appendix II Strategies and reflective questions for curators 70 Appendix III Resources 74 Bibliography 78 Online sources cited for comments 82

2 I LLUSTRATIONS

1. Meet Jes. (American Able series) by Holly Norris, 2009-2010, courtesy of the artist, page 15

2. Workout. (American Able series) by Holly Norris, 2009-2010, courtesy of the artist, page 19

3. Advertisement (Workout.), courtesy of American Apparel page 19

4. Tops and bottoms. (American Able series) By Holly Norris, 2009-2010, courtesy of the artist, page 19

5. Eat. (American Able series) by Holly Norris, 2009-2010, courtesy of the artist, page 20

6. Advertisement (In One Piece) courtesy of American Apparel page 21

7. Sexuali-tee. (American Able series) by Holly Norris, 2009-2010, courtesy of the artist, page 23

8. bODY rEMIX/ gOLDBERG variations, Choreography and photograph by Marie Chouinard, Dancers David Rancourt and Lucie Mongrain, 2005, image provided with permission from Marie Chouinard, page 51

3 A CKNOWLEDGMENTS

As someone who finds reading and writing arduous, over-rated and shamefully over- valourized in western academia, I am so deeply grateful for all of the support I have had and for the enriching and meaningful moments I have had with my mentors, be it through lectures and presentations or better yet through long rambling conversations that wind into the night. I have been driven by the remarkable contributions of Catherine Frazee, be it scholarly, political, legal or poetic. I will forever cherish our friendship, our Nova Scotia sessions and our heartening time working together. I am thankful for the work and support of Richard Sandell and the significant contributions on the topic of representing disability made by the Research Centre for Museums and Galleries. Richard, I look forward to sharing that pint I still owe you. For your inspiration, mentorship and meaningful conversations I would like to thank my supervisor Nancy Viva Davis Halifax and advisor Karen Stanworth, as well as Alan Shain, Eli Claire, Syrus Ware, Karen Cocq, Jessica MacCormack, Loree Erickson, Liz Brockest, Eleanor Murphy and Sheila James. For your editing, transcribing and word-smithing genius, thank you Robyn Jefferies, Maryellen Mallett, Leslie Robertson and Mireille Eagan. Thank you Sean Zio, for your grammatical fine toothcomb. To my family - my parents Larry and Anne, my grandmother Madeline, and my dearest friends, Meghan Black and Denise MacDonald, your constant love and support has nurtured and strengthened me, thank you. Lastly, I would especially like to thank Anita Khanna, for her love, her endless joy and her everlasting encouragement.

4 I NTRODUCTION

In 2010, emerging Canadian artist Holly Norris garnered widespread public attention for her photo series titled American Able, a site-specific public installation in the Scotiabank

CONTACT Photography Festival. Norris’s photography was part of the group exhibition

Contacting Toronto: What’s the Hype? which was featured on high definition large- screen television monitors in Toronto subway stations. Much of the attention was for the sexually provocative images of jes sachse1, an Ontario-based artist with visible physical disabilities2, in photographs mimicking advertisements for the popular clothing line

American Apparel (AA). Print, radio and online news sources quickly picked up the story and there was widespread posting of Norris’ images on websites, blogs and social media sites.

Throughout this major research paper, I will undertake a critical analysis of

American Able in order to provide insight into issues surrounding the creation, interpretation, and display of contemporary disability art. In Part One I will present a case study that explores the artistic process behind American Able, the conceptual intent of the artists, presentation and display considerations and public perceptions of the work. The issues raised by this analysis will then be contextualized in Part Two, which will include specific references to historical and theoretical discourse on topics related to displaying disability, sexuality and disability art. Throughout this paper, I will also argue that

1 jes sachse prefers to use the lower case in the spelling of her name and so this convention is reflected throughout this paper. 2 There is tremendous diversity in how people indentify based on their lived experiences and embodiments, making defining disability extremely complex. For the purposes of this paper, one definition is presented on page 9 and is understood based on Oliver’s (1990) writing on the social model. Disability is generally understood as an ‘experience of exclusion or disadvantage’ based on a person’s impairments or perceived impairments.

5 disability art has distinct qualities, artistic processes and display considerations that are relevant to contemporary visual arts and curating. These considerations and related questions will be raised in Part Three, in order to better inform contemporary disability art criticism and provide context for curators working in disability art. Ultimately, I will illustrate that the American Able display and those like it may play an important role in shifting, disrupting and contributing to Canadian arts and culture - as contemporary disability art practice continues to evolve so must art criticism and curatorial practices.

Why American Able?

American Able makes for an insightful case study not just because it garnered public attention but because the work of these artists can also shed light on larger issues as they relate to disability politics, disability art and the creative process. The work provided an opportunity for audiences to question the lack of representation and misrepresentation of sexualized disabled women in popular culture and advertising while also mocking the ways audiences accept and perpetuate ableist values through their consumerism, possibly without even realizing it.

The intent and artistic process behind American Able for both of the artists involved is also significant. While Holly Norris, a non-visibly disabled person is the only artist credited for the work, the series was created through a highly collaborative process between Norris and sachse. I argue that the working process between these two artists, are of critical importance in fully understanding disability art practices. A study of

American Able raises important questions about collaborations between artists with

6 varying experiences with disability, and what role, if any, cultural appropriation can play in the creation of collaborative disability art.

This display was also a rare example of disability art being included in a larger contemporary Canadian arts festival outside of the disability arts community, where this kind of work is typically segregated. While some arts organizations in Canada may be slowly starting to realize their legal and moral obligations to create access for disabled audiences, few acknowledge, let alone consider or respond to, the stark absence of disabled artists and art that explores disability within their collections and exhibitions. As disability art is so scarcely shown in contemporary visual arts venues, these rare opportunities for inclusion are key occasions to investigate.

Lastly, this display provides for a particular conversation about curating and display. This display was not exhibited in a formal gallery which impacted how the art was perceived and who was able to access it. This method of display, which will be explored later in the paper, situates this work within a history of disability art that has often been excluded from display in galleries. The artist and ultimately the curator, through exhibiting American Able, displayed a disabled woman’s body, creating a viewing relationship between the model and the audience, that has deep historical roots in the freak show and in the presentation of disabled people as medical curiosities or specimens. These social references can greatly impact the reading and thus the displaying of contemporary disability art today. Although American Able was displayed in an alternative exhibition space, this case study can offer insight and opportunities for learning for curators and individuals working within in galleries and museums as well.

7 While the work of these emerging artists is in and of itself a rationale for in-depth study, the act of this study is also important. Disability art has been gaining great momentum in Canada since the 1990s and disability arts are beginning to be represented in contemporary visual art exhibitions. While a brief history of recent Canadian disability art follows, it should be noted that disability art within the visual arts and the relationship between representation, disability and exhibition have had little critical analysis in Canada3. The ways that disability art is understood, critiqued and displayed are drastically diverse and contemporary art criticism and curatorial practices (if any at all) are inconsistent4. In disability art exhibitions (happening outside of disability arts festivals and organizations) most curators report that they have little to no previous experience with disability art nor in-depth understanding of this art movement5. The movement, like other arts movements in Canada that represent the artistic practices of marginalized communities, has not been sufficiently recognized in the contemporary

Canadian visual art ecology. This absence is indicted by the lack of exhibition opportunities, scholarly articles, conference topics and critical reviews about Canadian disability art including its representation in visual art exhibitions and the topic’s relative

3 Examples include, Geraldine Chimirri-Russell, “The red wheelchair in the white snowdrift” in Re- presenting disability: Activism and agency in the museum, eds. Richard Sandell, Jocelyn Dodd and Rosemarie Garland-Thomson. London, New York: Routledge; Kathryn Church, Catherine Frazee, and Melanie Panitch “Making disability history public history: Can a body of activist knowledge find a “home” in the museum?” Paper presented at the annual conference of the Canadian Association of Women and Public History, “Women’s Bodies in a Public History Context”, Gatineau, Quebec, 2008; Elizabeth Sweeney, “Shifting definitions of access: Disability and emancipitory curatorship in Canada”, Muse Magazine, Canadian Museum Association, November/December 2010 4 Elizabeth Sweeney, “Shifting definitions of access: Disability and emancipitory curatorship in Canada”, Muse Magazine, Canadian Museum Association, November/December 2010. Also informed by conversations with several curators nationally who have developed disability art exhibitions, since the publication of this article. 5 Ibid.

8 absence in this country’s art history and post-graduate art education. Without documenting and critiquing the ways disability art is made, displayed and exhibited, critical dialogue about these practices will not continue to evolve. This paper aims to help address that gap and contribute to the critical discourse.

What is disability?

There is tremendous diversity in how people indentify based on their lived experiences and embodiments, making defining disability extremely complex. There have been attempts to shift the understandings of disability from being viewed as a medical tragedy or personal problem to being viewed as the direct result of a society that is fundamentally structured to exclude people with impairments (or perceived or labeled impairments) from equal participation and citizenship6. For the purposes of this paper, one definition is presented, which was developed by the Canada Council for the Arts7 in 2011 and based on Mike Oliver’s 1990 writing on the social model. This definition establishes distinctions between the terms impairment and disability:

Impairments are physical, mental or learning conditions that may be evident or not, and have long term, temporary, or fluctuating effects. The degree to which impairment affects people's lives is extremely diverse.

6 Mike Oliver, “The Individual and the Social Models of Disability” Paper presented at Joint Workshop of the Living Options Group and the Research Unit of the Royal College of Physicians on, People with Established Locomotor Disabilities in Hospitals, July 1990, accessed from www.leeds.ac.uk/disability- studies/archiveuk/Oliver/in%20soc%20dis.pdf; Govt. of Canada, “Defining disability: a complex issue” Ottawa : 2003; accessed from: http://publications.gc.ca/collections/Collection/RH37-4-3-2003E.pdf 7 This definition was created for the Canada Council for the Arts and finalized in October 2011, with direct input from the Equity Office’s Disability Arts Strategy Working Group whose members include Marie- Helene Bellevance, Geoffrey McMurchy, Alan Shain, Francis Sinclair, Anna Quon and Catherine Frazee. As the Council’s Disability Arts Officer, I chaired this working group and I also provided input into the definition along with my colleagues in the Equity Office Shuni Tsou, Program Officer and Sheila James, Coordinator. The definition cites Mike Oliver, “Defining Impairment and Disability: Issues at Stake” Chapter 3 in 'Exploring the Divide', edited by Colin Barnes and Geof Mercer, Leeds: The Disability Press, 1996, pp.29 -54 accessed from http://www.leeds.ac.uk/disability- studies/archiveuk/Oliver/ex%20div%20ch3.pdf,

9

Disability is an experience of exclusion or disadvantage. People with actual or perceived impairments experience disability when they are disadvantaged as a direct result of that impairment, or due to social, policy or environmental barriers, including discrimination and prejudicial attitudes8.

‘Disabled people’ or ‘people with disabilities’?

While people-first language (i.e. ‘people with disabilities’) is a convention still commonly used as disability etiquette in North America9, many people have adopted the term ‘disabled people’ reflecting the social model of disability10 and this is the terminology used in this paper. It is worth noting that some disabled people have also reclaimed the term ‘crip’11, which is slang for the derogatory term cripple and readers may also notice this term used by cited sources or the artists in the case study.

Furthermore some people reject the term disability entirely and use their own identifying conventions, while others prefer no labels at all.

What is disability arts and culture?

Disability art was created out of disability rights movements that initially emerged out of the United States and the United Kingdom.12 Primarily, the formation of disability arts and culture was and still is shaped and influenced by a desire to respond, through art, to

8 Mike Oliver, “Defining Impairment and Disability: Issues at Stake” Chapter 3 in 'Exploring the Divide', edited by Colin Barnes and Geof Mercer, Leeds: The Disability Press, 1996, pp.29 -54 accessed from http://www.leeds.ac.uk/disability-studies/archiveuk/Oliver/ex%20div%20ch3.pdf 9 Human Resources Development Canada, Office for Disability Issues, Govt. of Canada, “A Way with words: guidelines and appropriate terminology for the portrayal of persons with disabilities” Ottawa : 1998 10 Laurence Clark and Stephen Marsh, “Patriarchy in the UK: The Language of Disability” 2nd draft of a discussion document for future publication, 2002, accessed from http://www.leeds.ac.uk/disability- studies/archiveuk/Clark,%20Laurence/language.pdf 11 David Mitchell (producer)“Vital signs: crip culture talks back” [videorecording] directed by Sharon Snyder & David Mitchell, Brace Yourselves Productions, 1998; Robert McRuer, Crip theory: cultural signs of queerness and disability, New York: New York University Press, 2006 12 Colin Barnes and Geoff Mercer, “Disability Culture: Assimilation or Inclusion?” In Handbook of disability studies, eds. Gary L. Albrecht, Katherine D. Seelman and Michael Bury (Thousand Oaks, London, Delhi: Sage, 2001)

10 the ways disabled people have been perceived within society and misrepresented in media. In addition, artists in this movement use art to explore the impact of disability, struggle, and oppression, while infusing new narratives of pride for these lived experiences and identities13.

British scholars Colin Barnes and Geoff Mercer have argued that there is a dichotomy between situating disability within a larger understanding of cultural difference and situating disability culture as a unique group with “a sense of common identity and interests that unite disabled people and separate them from their nondisabled

14 counterparts” . In their 2001 article “Disability Culture: Assimilation or Inclusion?”,

Barnes and Mercer situated disability arts as vital to critical reflection, the empowerment of disabled people, and challenging the social exclusion of disabled people. They also warned that the assimilation of disability art into mainstream culture could neutralize its political significance.

Several notable Canadian perspectives on disability art and culture emerged in the late 1990s. Ryerson-RBC Institute for disability studies was established in 1999 and in the same year, the annual disability arts and culture showcase titled Art with Attitude was launched.15 Starting in the early 2000’s, the Canadian disability arts movement began to create its own discourse with the publication of two critically important documents – the

Ryerson University occasional paper titled Lights…Camera…Attitude! Introducing

Disability Arts and Culture written by Jihan Abbas, Catherine Frazee, Kathryn Church

13 Ibid. 14 Ibid. 522 15 Ryerson School of Disability studies website “Art with Attitude, 1999” accessed December 19, 2011 from http://www.ryerson.ca/ds/activism/performances.html

11 and Melanie Panitch, and the Canadian Theatre Review titled ‘Theatre and the Question of Disability’ edited by Michele Decottignies and Andrew Houston.

The Ryerson paper was a cross-discipline introductory exploration of disability art and culture in Canada, although there was a significantly larger focus on performing arts.

The report heavily referenced the aforementioned 2001 work by Barnes and Mercer and argued that one of the most important contributions of disability arts and culture is that they “challenge cultural misrepresentation and reshape the disability narrative”16.

Disability art practices were situated as inherently political and emancipatory since artists had the opportunity to challenge oppression in front of “audiences possibly implicated in this oppression”17. Common themes identified in disability art included reclamations of how disability is represented, opposition to socially constructed stereotypes (particularly as they relate to the body) and the effects of discrimination and segregation.

While the 2005 ‘Theatre and the Question of Disability’ was a discipline-specific collection of essays on performing arts, it was a seminal publication in the history of disability art in Canada. One of the editors, Michele Decottignies, a pivotal early leader in the Canadian disability art movement, provided both the artistic direction of Balancing

Acts, a ground-breaking Canadian disability arts festival that started in 2002 (and ended in 2010), and Calgary’s ongoing Stage Left Productions. In Decottignies’ 2005 editorial, she clearly distinguishes between both ‘disability artists’ and ‘disabled artists’, situating disability artists as those who create art that is centered around themes related to their

16 Jihan Abbas, Kathryn Church, Catherine Frazee, and Melanie Panitch, Lights...Camera...Attitude! Introducing Disability Arts & Culture, Occasional Paper [1](Toronto: Ryerson-Ryerson University, 2004) 1 17 Ibid. 10

12 experience with disability in contrast to artists with disabilities who take roles and jobs from a variety of sources18. Ultimately, Decottignies concludes that, through the creation and presentation of theatre rooted in a disability art practice, audiences are provided with opportunities not to normalize disability but rather to use a disability lens in which to reflect on the their own lives. She states, “Disability, then, becomes a radical way in which to see the world”19. In Part Two, I will pick up on this history including contemporary practices and trends hat have emerged in this sector in the last decade.

Querying queer

In February of 1990 Teresa de Lauretis, Professor at University of California first used the term “queer theory” during a conference she organized at the same university20. The term queer has been increasingly used to refer a multiplicity of sexual orientations, identities and sexualities that fall outside of traditional understandings of heterosexuality21. Eli Clare, disability and sexuality scholar and poet, defines queer in this way:

“Queer names a hugely diverse group of people. It brings lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, and trans people in all our variation and difference and overlap under one roof…for some people it works; for others it doesn’t.”22

18 Michele Decottignies, editorial “Theatre as a Window on Disability” Canadian Theatre Review, (122) Spring 2005, 6. 19 Ibid. 20 David M. Halperin, “The Normalization of Queer Theory.” Co-published simultaneously in Journal of Homosexuality (Harrington Park Press, an imprint of The Haworth Press, Inc.) Vol. 45, No. 2/3/4, 2003, pp. 339-343; and: Queer Theory and Communication: From Disciplining Queers to Queering the Discipline(s) (ed: Gust A. Yep, Karen E. Lovaas, and John P. Elia) Harrington Park Press, an imprint of The Haworth Press, Inc., 2003, pp. 339-343 21 Ibid. 22 Eli Clare, Exile and Pride: Disability, Queerness and Liberation, 2nd ed. South End Press: Cambridge, MA, 2009, 113

13 Consistent with Clare’s positioning of the term, this paper uses the term queer as an umbrella term to respectfully recognize this diversity while also including those who identify as two-spirited.

Limitations of this study

In outlining the main topics of this study above, I acknowledge that this research raises many ideas, topics and themes that cannot be fully addressed within the scope of this paper. For example the significant role of displaying disabled people in the freak show is of critical importance and context to the topic of curating disability-themed exhibitions, and while this history has already been addressed extensively in the literature, further study is needed to address the impact and history of the freak show in Canada.

Furthermore, the role and representation of queer identity is a common theme within this work and further analysis is needed in order to fully situate it within a theoretical understanding rooted in Queer theory and Queer art. Lastly, if the curatorial practices of disability art are to evolve in this country, further research and analysis are needed so they are informed by and in conversation with the experiences, struggles and extensive contributions of Canada’s racialized and aboriginal curators and artists.

14 PART ONE: A CASE STUDY OF AMERICAN ABLE

“This is not an ad for 'Hug a Cripple Day'. It's satire. It's a photograph. Some people will respect this work. Some people will feel represented in it. And that's great. But that's not my goal. I'll leave that to Sesame Street and Jerry Lewis”23– jes sachse

On Tuesday, May 6, 2010, Toronto subway passengers lined the underground platforms, as they typically do. One can imagine that many passed the time staring at an array of possible distractions: newspapers, books, mobile devices or large interior billboards. At some point, they likely glanced up at the Onestop digital television screens hanging from the ceiling, visually scrolling over news bulletins, advertisements and the countdown to the next approaching train. They may have not even noticed at first, or even at all, that they were looking at disability art. However, during the 2010 CONTACT Photography

Festival, American Able series was screened more than 520 times over the course of 4 separate days on televisions throughout the city’s subway system. This series was designed to make viewers do a double take by including almost identical reinterpretations of the popular American Apparel advertisements, many of which were on display at the time on giant billboards on the walls of subway platforms and in advertisements in free commuter newspapers, often found on their floors. The difference however is that they

23 jes sachse in interview with Alex, “American Able” Vice, accessed July 16, 2010, http://www.vice.com/en_uk/read/17311-revision-2

15 featured artist jes sachse as the model - a pierced, tattooed, queer and disabled artist from

Uxbridge, Ontario whose physical features are not typical of American Apparel models.

Tens of thousands of commuters saw American Able on the 300 Onestop Media screens in approximately 50 subway stations with an estimated subway ridership of 1.3 million daily24. However during and following the exhibition, audience numbers grew even higher as American Able garnered widespread media attention, including formal and informal news sources, online discussion and blog posts and print and radio interviews.

In Part One, this research paper will describe the American Able series, how it was exhibited, as well as media coverage and viewer comments. In Part Two, the display will be contextualized within a historical framework and critically analyzed.

The Beginning

American Able started as a school project. In the fall of 2008, Holly Norris was a second year undergraduate student at Trent University taking the Women’s Studies course titled

‘Women in Pop Culture’. Her assignment was to take an existing advertisement and recreate it and Norris explained that the project was influenced by conversations she had had with friend and artist jes sachse on the topic of disability.

NORRIS. It wasn’t a huge project, but I had this idea of American Able. jes and I were really close and so… I started thinking about re-doing fashion advertising – who would be in the ads, and for what reasons... jes wanted to [leave], and I was like ‘but I have this school project – you said you’d help me. Just go stand in front of that wall and put on these tights.’ And she put on the tights, and we took the photo.

24 Website of Contacting Toronto: What’s the Hype? Accessed December 13, 2011, http://www.contactingtoronto.ca/past/2010/photos and confirmed by Sharon Switzer (curator) in interview.

16 In a separate interview25 sachse described the origins of the project as follows:

SACHSE. We had lots of discussions about American Apparel and about my disability politics and work I had done…I didn’t see all of the feedback or all of the writing she did about it, but it was essentially her ideas about women’s representation in the media.

Following the initial motivation to complete a school assignment the artists revisited the idea again in the winter of 2009 and held a second photo shoot. Around this time, sachse received a call for submissions to participate in the 2010 Scotiabank

CONTACT Photography Festival and she forwarded the call to Norris. sachse suggested that American Able be submitted for consideration, in particular for the site-specific public exhibition Contacting Toronto: What’s the Hype?, displayed in subway stations.

SACHSE. It was me that pitched the idea to Holly. Not just to put in American Able or have her have the show in CONTACT but specifically this work in this kind of venue….Holly was the photographer and so Holly submitted the proposal. There was a little discussion at that point about who would write the artist’s statement and stuff like that. That was when we started to have talks about collaborating

Norris explained that her submission was sent in electronically and was accepted almost immediately, stating: “ [I] sent it in at 2 a.m. and had an email back early the next morning – ‘you can for sure show this’”26. Following their initial acceptance into the festival, the artists created a final more polished version of the work and added a second model to the series. It was this set of images that ultimately made it into the group exhibition.

25 I conducted separate one-on-one interviews with each of the artists and the curator. Separate comments on a common topic grouped together should not be interpreted as conversations between participants. Throughout this paper individual quotes from interviews with the author are indicated by an indentation, single spacing and begin with the last name of the interviewee. Quotes taken from secondary sources are indicated by quotation marks. For more information see Appendix I Research Methods. 26 Holly Norris in interview with the author, Toronto, August 2011

17 Description of the Exhibition and the Artwork

The final American Able series included 13 images mimicking American Apparel advertisements that were in circulation on billboards and in print at the time of the 2010

Contacting Toronto exhibition. This annual group exhibition is co-produced by Art for

Commuters and Onestop Media Group, in partnership the Scotiabank CONTACT

Photography Festival and is one of the festival’s official site-specific public installations.

Only 10 of the 13 images were displayed in the subway stations, as three images of the model shirtless were censored due to concerns about reactions from the public and

Toronto Transit Commission (TTC)27. The exhibition was held between May 1 to 31 and

American Able was displayed in 30-second slideshows (5 seconds per image) once every hour for 4 full days spread out over the course of the festival.

All images in the series include a thick white boarder, surrounding a colour image of the model and a short caption in large bold black sans serif font, usually at the top or along the side of the boarder. The model, jes sachse, appears to be a white woman in her early 20s with visible physical disabilities. She has shoulder length straight light brown hair and an oval-shaped face with her nose septum pierced with a ring. sachse has long slender legs, arms and hands, a short torso and a distinct unevenness in her back and shoulders, with some areas more rounded than others. She has several colour tattoos, one an outline of a vintage heart located on her upper chest with the words crooked scrolled across it. Most of the images appear to be photographed in a private home and include poses on couches and unmade beds.

27 Sharon Switzer in interview with the author in December 2011

18

Similar to American Apparel advertisements, the majority of the American Able images are intentionally sexually provocative- with sachse modeling such items as lacy underwear or in some cases simply a pair of men’s briefs or sports socks - with her arm held across her body, covering her breasts.

Three of the images include sachse modeling in sexually suggestive poses with Dana

Levine, a fully dressed model who has a similar body size to sachse, but has more boyish features and attire. These images provide a significant additional layer to the reading of the work, as they also situate the representation of queer sexuality as a key narrative within the series. Several images include the model(s) staring blankly at the camera, with expressions and poses identical to those found in fashion advertising such as American

Apparel. Many images also have a tone of sarcastic humour. In one image, sachse wears

19 a pair of black spandex pants and no shirt and is bent over in front of an open refrigerator, photographed from behind. The model’s long legs are spread apart with the weight shifted over to one hip. The pose accentuates the model’s rear end, her rounded shoulders and the curve of her spine. There is a comical tone of flamboyant posturing as sachse puts one hand on her hip and holds up a large phallic cucumber with the other. The caption at the top of the image reads, “Eat.”

20 American Apparel’s distinct advertising approach

has become an instantly recognizable brand. Viewers

automatically know an American Apparel ad, even if the

company’s name is not prominent, or there at all. American

Able, precisely mimics this style and plays with this brand recognition, making viewers take a second look and possibly leading them to question their relationship with advertising and the type of model they expect to see.

The Artist Statement

Holly Norris wrote the artist statement and the following version was posted on the

Contacting Toronto website. A longer version is also posted on her personal website28.

“American Able intends to, through spoof, reveal the ways in which women with disabilities are invisibilized in advertising and mass media. I chose American Apparel not just for their notable style, but also for their claims that many of their models are just ‘every day’ women who are employees, friends and fans of the company. However, these women fit particular body types; they are able-bodied. Women with disabilities go unrepresented, not only in American Apparel advertising, but also in most of popular culture. Rarely, if ever, are women with disabilities portrayed in anything other than an asexual manner, for ‘disabled’ bodies are largely perceived as ‘undesirable.’ In a society where sexuality is created and performed over and over within popular culture, the invisibility of women with disabilities in many ways denies them the right to sexuality, particularly within a public context. The model, Jes Sachse, and I intend to reveal these stories and place her in a position where women with disabilities are typically excluded.”29

28 The longer version on Norris’s website includes the following text in place of the last sentence. “Too often, the pervasive influence of imagery in mass media goes unexamined, consumed en masse by the public. However, this imagery has real, oppressive effects on people who are continuously ‘othered’ by society. The model, Jes Sachse, and I intend to reveal these stories by placing her in a position where women with disabilities are typically excluded.” Holly Norris, accessed December 21, 2011, from http://hollynorris.ca/americanable#h39067524. 29 From the website of Contacting Toronto: What’s the Hype? 2010, American Able exhibition page, accessed December 21, 2011 from: http://www.contactingtoronto.ca/past/2010/holly-norris.

21

Above this artist statement on the exhibition website is a brief caveat which reads:

“PLEASE NOTE: Photographs in which the model appears topless do not appear on the TTC.”

The American Able page on the Contacting Toronto website also links to two image slideshows of the American Able series (including the censored images), Holly Norris’ artist biography and a link to her website.

The Intention

Throughout the interviews it became clear that the artists had different conceptual understandings of the work’s meaning and intent. To Norris, the intent was to challenge the representation of women, especially queer disabled women in fashion.

NORRIS. I was thinking about fashion advertising and beyond that all representations of people in pop culture, none of those people ever look like my friends….Because jes isn’t the sort of person you see in fashion advertising and you know, ads in general tells us who we are supposed to think is sexy. I just think its terrible, that you know, no one like people who are my friends, they don’t look like people in those sorts of ads - and I have a lot of sexy friends! (laughs) and I wanted to showcase that. and jes was doing her own art work at the time and I had seen that and she was also modeling for other people and she knew how to model and so she was a go to person when I started thinking about it. … That was the main idea ‘why aren’t my friends sexy?’ especially jes…

In contrast, sachse approached the work from a foundation strongly rooted in disability theory and disability art and as such her conceptual contributions were extremely intentional. For example, while Norris framed the project as a campaign on several occasions, sachse was very clear that she loathed that framing declaring a few times in the interview, “it’s not a fucking campaign”.

22 SACHSE. Part of my passion for wanting to answer the callout for the TTC was that it kind of sparked the idea that ‘let’s make this…Let’s dupe people’. I didn’t want it to look anything like a fucking Dove campaign30 or like…. ‘real women, real bodies’. I wanted people to be startled by it, to not even notice. I wanted it to be true satire à la Jonathan Swift and to look just like their fucking ads, because I wanted to see their reactions. That’s part of what I do with my own work. I’m fascinated by the way people react to disability.

In the final production of American Able, sachse insisted that the images match the AA ads currently on display so the viewer would be likely to do a double take. For example when the two artists were negotiating who would be the other model in the shoot with sachse, Norris was interested in portraying radical queers in order to challenge the status quo of advertising. She suggested one mutual friend with spiked hair and piercings to pose along side sachse. In contrast, sachse insisted on a model that would pass as what she describes as “andro and ‘basic’ and hipster”31 more common in actual American

Apparel ads.

When asked why this choice was important, sachse replied that she was not really interested in challenging American Apparel per se, but that it was precisely the double

30 jes’s reference to a “Dove campaign” refers to The Dove® Campaign for Real Beauty, an ad campaign started in 2004 by the Dove soap company, which depicted women of varying ages, ethnicities and sizes in white underwear, claiming to start “a global conversation about the need for a wider definition of beauty”. Website for Dove, accessed January 6, 2012, http://www.dove.us/Social-Mission/campaign-for-real- beauty.aspx 31 jes sachse in interview with Julia Caron, “American Able: Satire and sex appeal on the subway” Ryerson Fee Press, July 12, 2010, accessed July 28, 2011 http://ryersonfreepress.ca/site/archives/2076

23 take by the viewer that established her relationship with the audience and made them question their own relationship with what they were looking at and why.

The difference in the way the artists framed and understood the work surfaced and resurfaced many times. Norris framed the work as an attempt to show the world that disabled women are sexy too. In contrast, sachse was concerned with exploring irony and satire to mock those within her own social circles who perceive themselves as

“educated”32 and presumably socially conscious. This “hipster”33 demographic seems to be precisely those targeted by AA and those drawn into the sexiness and the allure of fashion trends and ad campaigns that ultimately propagate and reinforce the very ableist and racist ideologies they may oppose. In sachse’s words,

“American Apparel is sexy. I dunno about Holly but I love their style. It’s andro and ‘basic’ and hipster. Lots of lycra, lots of ‘your body as is’ type clothing. However, model and sales clerk wise? Tall skinny white people. The usual. The fact that American Apparel is hyper sexual appeals to me. The fact that the lens isn’t really on an empowered body, is less appealing. Sexy sells. But why does sexy always seem to intersect with misogyny? Ultimately, American Apparel is a popular brand of choice for hipsters, many of whom are educated and/or are familiar with the provocative nature of their ads. American Able doesn’t mock from the outside. It mocks from the inside. I like that.”34

Holly Norris’s artist statement was the main source of public information about the intention of the work and the majority of media sources, seemed to base their coverage on this text, and many blogs and on-line forums simply posted the images, pasted a copy of the artist statement and invited readers to comment. Although both artists participated in several interviews, sachse expressed that interviewers often asked Norris more in-depth

32 Ibid. 33 Ibid. 34 Ibid.

24 and rigorous questions about the art work and seemed to ask her questions geared at setting up a motivational or inspirational response about being disabled. Most outlets positioned the work as a public awareness campaign which may be indicative of the reality that most reporters and audiences typically expect stories of disabled people to fall within the feel-good tropes to which they have previously been exposed; they also anticipate that their interpretations will not be challenged35. This is clearly illustrated in sachse’s description of an interview the two artists had with CBC’s Ontario Morning interviewer Wei Chang.

SACHSE. It was the last question and her [Wei Chang’s] tone… it was just touchy feely…the question was to Holly asking her:

‘Holly, do you think jes is sexy?’

And Holly replied: ‘Of course! jes is the sexiest person I know’.

And I was just ughhh…this is so weird, you know? And Holly was getting all these rigorous questions, and I’m getting all these questions like:

‘What do people think of you?’

(sachse chuckles) What? When I’m buying milk? When they’re fucking me? What? So in the last question of the interview she’s like:

‘jes, what do you want people to take away from this?’

By the tone of her voice I knew what she fucking wanted …. (in a sarcastic high pitched child-like voice) ‘I want people to love themselves and just love their bodies!’ and I was like (in angry tone) ‘I am not going to give this to you’ And so in the most sincere sounding voice I could muster…

35 Colin Barnes, “Discrimination: Disabled people and the Media”, Contact, No. 70, Winter, pp. 45-48: 1991 accessed from: http://www.leeds.ac.uk/disability-studies/archiveuk/Barnes/Media.pdf; Colin Barnes “Disability imagery in the Media: An Exploration of the Principles” Media Representations of Disabled People, 1992, The British Council of Organisations of Disabled People and Ryburn Publishing Limited, Krumlin, Halifax, England, Accessed from http://www.leeds.ac.uk/disability- studies/archiveuk/Barnes/disabling%20imagery.pdf;

25 ‘Well, Wei Chen, my secret hope is that come Christmas children everywhere will be writing letters to Santa requesting Scoliosis36….’

Dead silence for what felt like 10 seconds – and I was about to be like ‘helllllo?’ And then Wei Chen said:

‘Well thank you jes and Holly for joining us.’

This conversation demonstrates how sachse’s perspectives were not heard or understood by media covering American Able. In the next section I will critically examine why the dominant narratives about the work were guided by Norris and her artist statement, by exploring the creative process between the artists, what role collaboration played in this process and why Norris ended up being the only artist credited for the work.

The Creative Process

The question of authorship seemed contentious for the artists. Holly Norris has the sole credit on the work; she was the photographer, had the original idea, she prepared the application for the CONTACT exhibit and she wrote the artist statement. However it became clear through the interviews with both artists that sachse’s contributions gave the work its strength and its clear distinction as ‘disability art’.

NORRIS. It should have been more negotiated. jes was like ‘this is your project and I’m modeling for you’ but then when it got bigger she was like ‘its my project too’ and so I don’t know exactly where it stands. Because the whole campaign idea, the ads all the titles and all that sort of stuff were my ideas. I don’t know…

36 The Scoliosis Research Society defines the term as: “[A] condition of side-to-side spinal curves is called “scoliosis”. On an x-ray, the spine of a person with scoliosis looks more like an “S” or a “C” than a straight line. These curves can make the person’s shoulders or waist appear uneven. Some of these bones may also be rotated slightly, making one shoulder blade more prominent than the other.” Accessed December 20, 2011 from http://www.srs.org/patient_and_family/scoliosis/

26 It is a tricky kind of thing. I don’t want to discredit her own creativity because she certainly came and had different ideas when we came to shoot the stuff, but as far as actually putting the project together, doing all of the paper work, the write ups and the paper work for CONTACT, its all the stuff that I’ve done.

I also asked sachse if the work was created through collaboration:

SACHSE. As much as she initially came to me with the concept for the project …for her class… I think it was hard to negotiate collaboration given that the nature of the work deals so heavily with disabled identity, which … Holly’s not disabled. I collaborated insofar as I brought my politics and myself to the work and Holly took on the more technical artist-related work … photographer role.

This working relationship is critically important in the development and meaning of the work. What started as a playful school activity amongst friends developed into a serious body of work that the two artists approached from different lived experiences and perspectives. While Norris disclosed that she has lived experiences with an anxiety- related disability, this particular work was centered squarely on a disability politic related to the experience of visible physical differences. In our interview, Norris indicated that she recognized that she does not share the same lived experience with disability as sachse. This was demonstrated in Norris’s reaction to the derogatory and insulting comments posted online about sachse’s physical appearance. She stated “I felt terrible about those because when that sort of response happens it’s you know, its jes in those pictures and that’s the sort of reaction that she has to deal with, and I…I...I… don’t have to deal with”37.

Several times, both artists acknowledged sachse’s contributions to the project by way of her strong theoretical and artistic understanding of disability studies, especially on

37 Holly Norris in interview with the author, August 2011

27 the topic of looking and staring. So it is understandable that when Norris was asked directly if American Able was disability art (i.e. work made by disabled artists, about a lived experience with disability), she explained that while she really did not like labels, the work was more rooted in feminist or activist art. Certainly, as the sole credited artist on the project, it would only make sense that she could not claim the designation of disability artist. However, as the interview progressed, it became clear that she fully understood that the main conceptual framing of the work was about the experience of having a visible disability.

NORRIS. [American Able] wasn’t meant to challenge ad directors. Not just challenging who is making the ads but the entire culture of ableism that decided that that is acceptable. That same culture tells us the people with disabilities aren’t sexy, so challenging that more so….to provoke the viewer. It was to challenge people and their own perceptions about disability and how they look at ads and how they look at non-disabled women in advertising as well.

Both artists expressed that the project got much bigger than either expected. It seems clear that while Norris was well intentioned, she did not have the lived experiences or theoretical understandings of disability that sachse brought to the project. This divide ultimately led sachse to pull away from taking credit for her contributions.

SACHSE. Ultimately I thought it was important to let Holly write the artist statement alone versus trying to sit down and write it together because it just wasn’t working. We were describing the project differently. We were describing a different politic essentially and our politics are very much formed by the experience we live. And I just felt it was easier and also it allowed me to be critical of the project – which I’m always a big fan of that. Especially fucking Women’s Studies.

28 The Curator

The majority of the programming in the CONTACT festival is curated by festival staff however, Contacting Toronto, is a unique exhibition that was started and curated by

Sharon Switzer, an established visual art and media artist. Each year, Switzer creates a unique theme for the exhibition, based loosely on the overarching theme established by the CONTACT festival. In 2010, the theme was “What’s the Hype” and this was described in promotional material as a theme that “explores the tenuous relationship that exists between our everyday lives and the mirror of ‘reality’ that we see in mainstream media.”38 To gather work for this exhibition the curator used several tactics including approaching artists she knew, as well as posting a public call for submissions. All artwork for the exhibit was selected by Switzer, and when asked about her initial reaction to the

American Able submission, she indicated that she was drawn to the work because it was so well suited for both the venue and the theme.

SWITZER. I thought it was very exciting work, I thought it was very young work, I thought it was perfect for this context for the subways. It was in a nutshell exactly what CONTACT was looking for in this theme of mass media and artists dealing with media. From my perspective being able to show this kind of satire, and comment on advertising in an advertising space was like… too perfect.

Switzer knew instantly that she wanted to include the work, but she also explained that it needed approval. Switzer felt that the work was “concerning” and an “extreme case”39 warranting approval from the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Onestop Media Group.

This concern seems warranted, as approval to include the work was initially denied. “I

38 Website of Contacting Toronto: What’s the Hype? Accessed December 13, 2011, http://www.contactingtoronto.ca/past/2010/ 39 Sharon Switzer in interview with the author, December 2011

29 took this work to my boss and said look at this - its great work, its perfect for the show, I want to show it and he said ‘I can’t show this’”40. When asked why she thought the CEO responded in this way, Switzer confessed that she assumed it was due to the potential threat of lawsuit by AA, although he never clearly articulated the exact reason for his response. This assumption was reinforced when Switzer received permission to include the work, on the condition that Norris get approval in writing from AA. Switzer explained that she assumed that when that arrangement was made, no one thought AA would sign off on it; except they did.

Holly Norris took the initiative to track down the head of the Canadian AA office in

Montréal and was granted permission to exhibit the work. Just days before the deadline to publish CONTACT promotional materials, Switzer returned to her employer to confirm that the work could be included.

SWITZER. His thought was “I still don’t want to show it” but we had a conversation about it, myself and my colleague… and we talked to him and he….

He didn’t have a problem with the disability stuff… he had a problem with the nudity. Which they are no more nude then the American Apparel models, so is the underlying issue that she is disabled, which is a whole part of the work or is it because its an art show and he’s not getting paid by American Apparel to put it up? You’re out on a limb….. Maybe it was the in your face disability issue…

The same thing that made me want to show the work was what made me worry that there would be backlash.

Switzer explained that American Able was one of the most difficult curatorial experiences she has had at Contacting Toronto. “It was probably the hardest I’ve ever had to work to show something. There are a lot of compromises I have to make to show work on those

40 Ibid.

30 screens. I’m not allowed to show anything too violent, too sexual, anything that degrades the TTC in any way…”. While the curator never directly spoke with the TTC about the images, she expressed that she wanted to make decisions that would avoid their involvement as it could potentially slow down the exhibition production. Ultimately,

Switzer brokered a compromise. The Contacting Toronto website would include slideshows of all of the selected work in the series, while the images with partial nudity would not be displayed in the subway stations.

Once Contacting Toronto: What’s the Hype? launched, American Able images began popping up on blogs and in newspapers. When asked why the work received so much attention, Switzer explained that the quick and easy concept behind the work, as well as the familiar advertising design, attributed to its public interest.

SWITZER. It’s…. like…. Adbusters right? It says something very quick, very succinctly, it does it well, it’s a quick read, which it needs to be in that context so it plays off of advertising properly. It has that quick emotional response because of you know, jes’ body and the way that she is using her body and all of that is happening very quickly (Switzer is snapping her fingers) and that the context that I was able to put it out there on the subway and the context of the subway. I mean it went viral on its own without that.

Not that it isn’t good work, but things that go viral, go viral because they are easy. It was a happy mix of a smart fast read that people can pick up quickly, and feel smart understanding it.

When asked what exactly that quick message was and what the intention of the work was,

Switzer reflected precisely what Norris has indicated in her artist statement. In our conversation, I made a point to clarify if she was aware of sachse’s perspectives.

SWITZER. For me, what I’m getting…is sort of exactly what I think she wanted me to get, at least based on what she told me which is…

SWEENEY. Holly?

31

SWITZER. Ah yeah. Cause I never dealt with jes.

…. That it is a critique of, you know, the way that sexuality is portrayed in mass media, or in advertisements like American Apparel and the lack of visibility for disability…

In establishing the curator’s previous experiences with disability and disability arts,

Switzer explained that she had worked on art projects that centered on the theme of

HIV/AIDs, but aside from that and being familiar with the existence of a disability rights movement, she had no direct artistic engagement with the disability arts movement and only periphery knowledge of it. When asked if there should be particular considerations in displaying disability and disability art, especially in light of the history of the freak show, Switzer responded: “I haven’t thought about it. I haven’t because I’ve never shown it apart from this. It’s never been a part of my practice, to think about it”41. Switzer did not have concerns about the work or the artistic process, although the topic was raised in communication with Norris.

SWITZER. No. No. I don’t think I had concerns. I remember talking to Holly early on about, a little bit, about the process between her and jes and her assuring me that it was collaborative process and jes had a lot of agency in the way the photos were taken…. Although…. I don’t know…I don’t remember how the conversations went, if I asked or how it came about. I know I would have been uncomfortable asking that question. I know that information came out but I don’t know how it happened.

I then asked Switzer if she questioned the working relationship between the artists.

SWITZER. I think I absolutely assumed it was an acceptable situation that was good for both just from looking at the photos, but I wanted to know more about what was going on. So no, I never thought ‘oh this is wrong’ but I thought ‘oh this is interesting’ and I think jes even gave it to me, oh sorry Holly gave it to me in her proposal, that talked about that… ‘this is all acceptable and on board’ and

41 Sharon Switzer in interview with the author, December 2011.

32 gave a bit of history about jes being an artist herself and an activist. So I had that sense.

Switzer explained that after American Able started popping up in the media, she made a point to read through viewer comments. Although she mentioned that she did read comments by a “lot of people who were disgusted by looking at images of her

[sachse],”42 she concluded that none of them were cause for alarm. When asked if there were any concerns about exploitation or appropriation, Switzer commented:

SWITZER. They were very playful so that negates any kind of sense of exploitation to me, where there’s that much sense of relationship there between the photographer and the model….I was OK with whatever the artists told me it was. Its not my place, I don’t feel its my place to question that, maybe I should as a curator. I’m not a trained curator.

Switzer situated the relationship between the artists as essential in ascertaining if the work was exploitative. I then asked about a hypothetical scenario where Norris had chosen an unknown disabled model to work with, and the model did not have any agency in the direction of the artwork. When asked if this hypothetical artistic process would be considered exploitative, she also did not view the work this way.

SWITZER. I don’t think so, personally. I think the model could decide for herself why she wanted to do it, whether it was a good fit for her for whatever reason, and I think the photographer, Holly or otherwise, would have had the reason for doing it, we could say it was still about a discourse about disability, would still be informed by… something. And I think the reasons for her doing it, the reasons that that informed her, the relationship she had with the model, would come out in the work. And you would see that.

Here the curator situates intent and personal choice as the most discerning and important factors when considering if exploitation should be a concern. Throughout the interview I conducted with Norris, she recognized the importance and value of sachse’s insights on

42 Ibid.

33 disability and art as well as the discrimination and staring that disabled women face in society, making her good intentions obvious. However, in Part Two, I will return to this topic and critically explore if an artist’s intentions necessarily negate accusations of exploitation or appropriation, and some of the complexities that surround that discourse.

The Media and the Audience

There were no didactics, brochures, labels or descriptions installed in the subway stations, but audience members could visit the Contacting Toronto website for an overview of the exhibition’s theme, and individual pages about each artist and the work displayed. The promotional material created by Contacting Toronto and the 2010

Scotiabank CONTACT Photography Festival were just a small portion of the overall public attention given to American Able.

While tens of thousands of people had the opportunity to briefly view American

Able in the Toronto subway stations, it is clear that thousands more experienced it online.

I searched over 100 blogs, websites, forums, and online articles that mentioned American

Able. Most sites allowed readers to post comments and these entries indicate that many people only encountered the images online. While in no way quantifiable, online posting have created new mechanisms for people to exchange ideas, share quick reflections and build upon other’s comments. For artists and curators, this kind of feedback, even if anecdotal, is rare as viewers often do not have the time to write down their reflections after encountering a work of art. In reviewing a sample of 25 online posts43, ranging from

43 A full list of online sources referenced and cited in this section can be found following the bibliography.

34 national newspapers, university newspapers, blogs, disability associations and online forums, I retrieved approximately 197 comments and several main themes emerged.

You go grrrrrl!

The large majority of stories and comments were from writers and audiences who were making seemingly positive comments about what a great person they thought sachse was.

Many people commented about the strength of sachse’s personality and character, her sexiness or attractiveness as well as her courage.

“jes is just so sexy and confident and amazing”

“ brave girl…”

“… you can feel jes’s personality coming through. I would guess she has a killer sense of humour and attitude to match.”

One of the most noticeable themes within this loose category were the comments that mixed compliments and positive assumption about sachse’s character with strong sentiments of pity.

“jes’ spirit, humour and strength shone through, loud and clear. Sure I didn’t look at her with envy (like I might at regular models), but I did think she would be a great girl to know!”

“I feel for jes, but I get the feeling that she is a funny, bubbly, likable [sic] spirit which would give her strength as she lives her life. I would worry though if her billboards were to be seen by teenagers on public transport. Kids can be so cruel and I just hope that Jes wouldn’t hear their comments”

“I’m guilty of being squeamish of “disabled” (hate that word) peoples’ sexuality, but after seeing this, I won’t have any more doubts.  jess is f*cking hot!!”

Many writers and readers referred to the art piece as a campaign and praised the artist and those who wrote about it for their altruistic and socially conscious contributions.

“This is a REALLY powerful campaign. Thanks so much for writing about it.

35 “You are both BRILLIANT. Thank you for making the world a better place.”

But why does she have to be sexy?

The second most common trend were comments from people who expressed that while they appreciated the attempt at valuing disabled women and their bodies, it was unfortunate that sachse was using her body in a sexual way by reproducing the AA aesthetic. It seemed that many readers would have preferred if the work more closely resembled, as sachse referred to earlier, “ a Dove campaign” (see notes page 19), images that perhaps aimed to highlight her inner beauty or purity.

“Making some women visible/ acceptable in the eyes of the mainstream by presenting them as sexy has never sat right with me. Is it liberating to go from disrespected to disrespected but sexy?”

“I don’t like these images at all. Do [you] remember the images of post- mastectomy women featured here not long ago? They were beautiful, and natural and organic and genuinely sexy and moving. But these pics are crass and tacky and forced. I’d love to see jess in more natural representations of her inner beauty, as apposed [sic] to prancing around in her knickers”

Sex sells

One theme that came up several times in the comment sections were sentiments that seemed to defend AA and the use of non-disabled women in advertising. Many readers had an apathetic tone, which insinuated that while it may be unfortunate that disabled women are not considered to be sexy, that is the reality of advertising.

“Models with disabilities would generally be shocking in advertisement, leading to a decrease in sales… the shareholders won’t be happy. Until certain things become socially acceptable it is not economically viable to ask the media to *make* them acceptable… the media is the mirror of society, not its [sic] governess.”

36 Critical questions

Some writers and readers expressed a critical lens and analysis on the work, ranging from questioning the importance of the subject matter or the working relationship between the artists, as well as clear understandings of multiple meanings.

“Is this disability exploitation designed to generate attention influenced by Charney’s own marketing savvy, or are we supposed to have an experience with these images that leads us to de-otherize that which was other?”

“Clearly, there is no problem too small in a first world country.”

“American Apparel feeds the capitalist patriarchy with its reliance on the hipster image-an image that, while claiming to be ‘non conformist’, relies heavily on being commercial for its cultural legitimacy”

“I don’t know. I see it as this “artist” exploiting not only this model’s sexuality, but her disabilities as well. In the end its this artist who will get recognition, not the model who’s most likely to be looked at as a sideshow character”.

Insults

As mentioned throughout the paper there were a small selection of websites, mostly in the form of online discussion forums that included insulting, derogatory, offensive and hurtful comments about sachse, her body and about disabled people in general. There were indications that offensive comments also surfaced on moderated sites, but removed.

WORN Fashion Journal for example, posted a comment from their editor indicating that they had deleted a comment because it was offensive. As a result, the journal was motivated to create a comment moderation policy because this kind of insult had never been posted before44.

44 Julia Caron, “American Able” WORN fashion Journal with comment posted by Serah-Marie, WORN Editor, May 8, 2010 responding to a reader’s complaint for having their comment removed. Accessed December 24, 2011 http://www.wornjournal.com/html/american-able/

37 The last word

These comments demonstrate that audiences made the quick realization that the curator

Sharon Switzer described earlier, which was that disabled women were absent from ads and that absence must be because they are not socially considered to be attractive or sexy enough to sell clothes. This understanding is also directly established by Holly Norris’ artist statement. The comments suggest that the audience’s response to this quick lesson was to charitably praise sachse’s appearances and personality. These superficial compliments demonstrate and perpetuate sentiments of pity for disabled people, which the artwork seemed to be intending to combat. As sachse’s earlier story demonstrates, even when the artists were invited for interviews, many interviewers approached the story with a preconceived idea of the messaging and sachse may not have always had the opportunity to explain the project from her perspective, nor were they able to understand it. In addition, sachse’s friendship with Norris may have limited the breadth of what she felt comfortable saying in her presence. sachse decided to add her voice to the sea of online comments, effectively summing up her response to this feedback and her opinion about the entire project:

“Holly’s (the artist’s) statement doesn’t speak for me. It speaks for an able bodied woman’s take on ‘the issues facing women with disabilities’. Why am I in the photos? To (loving) mess with you. As an artist, I don’t give a shit about changing people’s minds. My body doesn’t hinge on your (phd) approval. A stare is a stare is a stare, to bemuse the lovely gertude stein. Cmon people. What about this says ‘hug a cripple day’? it’s an idea, and a photograph. Sure, I don’t have to sexualize myself to show you my agency and autonomy. But why can’t I? why does everyone have an opinion on whether this series was “too much” or “disability exploitation?”45

45 jes sachse in a comment posted in response to “American Able”: Challenging Depictions of Women with Disabilities (NSFW)” by Gwen Sharp, The Society Pages, May 6, 2010

38 Summary

As illustrated in Part One, the American Able exhibit raises a number of issues about the role of agency within creative process and of working relationships between friends, particularly when they share different life experiences and knowledge. The case study also raises questions about the role of curators in exhibiting disability art. In this case, the curator demonstrated good intentions and process through her dedication to a project, which was intended to disrupt audiences’ perceptions about disabled women, and established that she had an understanding of the relationship between the artist and the model. While any greater level of engagement is not typically expected, the curator’s lack of experience in this particular art movement does indicate the need to provide greater resources and context for curators in the future. This is further indicated by sachse’s overall experience in the exhibition, the potential for disability culture appropriation and the problematic relationships created between the audience and the disabled model. In the next section, I will explore how these issues can be understood within a larger historical context and of displaying disabled people and within contemporary discourse as it relates to disability art.

http://thesocietypages.org/socimages/2010/05/06/american-able-challenging-depictions-of-women-with- disabilities/

39

P ART T WO: C ONTEXT AND C ONTEMPORARY D ISCOURSE

In Part Two, I will illustrate the evolution of presenting disability publicly, most notably through viewing and defining of disabled people through a scientific or medical lens, which has historical roots in the freak show. Following this, in order to provide greater context and analysis of the artwork I will situate American Able within contemporary discourse on disability art, the representation of disability, sexuality and gender and the influence of exhibiting art in alternate spaces. Lastly, I will reexamine the working relationships of the artists in American Able, contextualized by recent examples of exploitation and appropriation of disability in the arts.

The Freak Show

In 1835, P.T. Barnum bought an elderly and disabled African-American woman, named Joice Heth as a slave, and she was to become his first sideshow act. Heth, who was blind as well as physically paralyzed was exhibited to spectators under the claim that she was 161 years old and the former nurse to United States president George

Washington46. P.T. Barnum went on to become one of the most well-known sideshow promoters in the United States, producing both live and museum exhibits of ‘human oddities’, typically comprised of people sold into slavery, including disabled and racialized people. While his live performances took place in carnivals and circus grounds, Barnum’s American Museum was one of the more well-known dime museums

46 Benjamin Reiss, “P. T. Barnum, Joice Heth and Antebellum Spectacles of Race,” American Quarterly 51 (1) (Mar. 1999): pp. 78-107. DOI http://www.jstor.org/stable/30041634

40 and was frequented by New York City residents and visitors between 1841 and 186547.

These historical examples of exhibiting disability in public spaces and museums are insightful in establishing how these two methods of presentation have historically overlapped. In the mid-1880’s, Barnum’s exhibits placed ‘human oddities’ upon plinths and under vitrines like other more established scientific and historical museums and learning institutions. These displays were designed to blur the lines between entertainment, science, and education48.

The custom of viewing and defining disabled people through a scientific or medical lens is echoed in the media coverage of American Able. Most reporters and bloggers went so far as to include facts about sachse’s medical condition in order to report on the story. Although the artists did not disseminate this personal information in exhibition literature – nor is the actual medical label in anyway relevant to the work – bloggers and reporters still acquired this information and made it public to their readers.

For example, the opening sentence of The Toronto Star article “This isn’t an American

Apparel Ad” that was published on the front page of the newspaper’s Living section, indicated the label of sachse’s medical condition, the resulting physical attributes of her body, her height, and dexterity limitations. Reporter Nicole Baute may have been trying to off set this objectification by also adding that sachse had more “chutzpah than the

47 Mark Baldwin, review of “Weird and Wonderful: The Dime Museum in America” by Andrea Stulman Dennett, New York: New York University Press, 1997. Left History, 6 (1): 152 - 155, 1999, accessed October 31, 2011, http://pi.library.yorku.ca/ojs/index.php/lh/article/viewFile/5374/4569 48 Rosemarie Garland Thomson, Freakery: Cultural spectacles of the extraordinary body, 1996, New York, London: New York University Press.

41 average 25-year-old”49. Joanne Costello, writing for her blog Marginal Notes, started her post by introducing Norris as a “Canadian artist, undergraduate student at Trent and the creator of American Able”50 and sachse as a “Canadian artist and model with a genetic disorder called Freeman-Sheldon syndrome”51. Norris was defined by what she did, while sachse was also defined by her diagnosis. The American blog Endless

CapABILITIES, created by the National Center on Physical Activity and Disability

(NCPAD), went into extensive medical detail in the introduction of its post about

American Able about the physical attributes and impairments of those living with the same medical condition as sachse.

“The twenty five year old model has Freeman-Sheldon Syndrome. This disability is characterized by a small mouth with taut, puckered lips that look like the person is attempting to whistle, sunken eyes, drooped eyelids, a long philtrum, scoliosis, and one leg longer than the other. People with Freeman-Sheldon syndrome often have difficulty eating, speaking, and walking.”52

This description in some way attempts to position sachse as a medical specimen by providing a generic physical description that inaccurately describes sachse’s actual appearances for readers. While certainly a discussion and observation of physical disability and/or bodily difference is critical in the reading of the work, this fascination with the medical label placed on sachse and the generalization of her disability is directly

49 Nicole Baute, “This isn’t an American Apparel Ad” The Toronto Star, published in print and online May 10, 2010, accessed July 16, 2010, http://www.thestar.com/living/fashion/article/807331--this-isn-t-an- american-apparel-ad 50 Joanne Costello, “American Able and the Not-So-Hip Capitalist Patriarchy” posted on Marginal Notes, May 26, 2010, accessed July 18, 2011 from: http://marginalnotes.typepad.com/pj/2010/05/will-american- able-save-us-from-capitalism-and-its-hipsters.html 51 Ibid, 52 Melissa, “American Able: Disability and Sexuality” for National Center on Physical Activity and Disability (NCPAD) blog, Endless CapABILITIES, February 21, 2011 accessed July 18, 2011, http://blog.ncpad.org/2011/02/21/american-able-disability-and-sexuality/

42 linked to the social perception of disabled people as specimens and situates them as the object of educational inquiry and scientific observation. Furthermore, all of these examples disclose and discuss information about sachse using language that she did not endorse or use herself, demonstrating disrespect for her and disregard for her intentions.

This assertion and sense of curious entitlement about a disabled person’s medical history remind us of the relation between curiosity, disability and display.

Contemporary Disability Art

Throughout the last decade, some of the major themes that have emerged in disability arts have included a clear connection between artistic practice and activism. Artists seem motivated to not only raise public consciousness about disability rights and lived experience, but to go farther in exploring their relationship with their audiences, finding new ways for audiences to not just understand them, but also gain a new perspective on their own lives and the world around them. What is most striking and evident throughout the Canadian disability art discourse in the early 2000s is a clear and strong position that disabled people must be the ones leading a disability arts practice and the Canadian disability art movement. However, of the Canadian arts organizations that are mandated to support the arts education, training and artistic creations and expressions of disabled artists, very few are led, directed, or controlled by disabled artists or arts professionals53.

53 Based on conversations between the author and staff of various Canadian disability arts organizations, and the author’s professional observations and experiences engaging with the Canadian disability arts community between 2009-2011.

43 Over the last decade, disability art and culture has transformed and expanded, becoming situated more often as a key discourse within larger umbrella conversations about shared experiences of marginalized identity, cultural diversity and subcultures, discrimination, and oppression. Contemporary disability art is increasingly exploring these shared experiences, as well as the intersectionality of disabled people’s identities, many of whom are also experiencing discrimination based on their gender, culture, sexuality, and/or race. Photographer jes sachse is herself part of the new generation of diverse contemporary disability artists, a group that also includes Loree Erickson a self- identified queer crip pornographer, Jasmine Oore, a Jewish Halifax-based film maker,

Antontine-Devinci Hunter, a deaf African-American choreographer, dancer, and writer, and Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha, a queer Sri Lankan writer and performer.

A great number of intersectional initiatives and collectives are also thriving and helping to redefine contemporary disability arts practice, including Calgary’s Stage Left

Productions, Toronto-based Kazumi Tsuruoka’s CP Salon and the performance collective

Sins Invalid from California. Contemporary disability art practice seems to be transforming to include more perspectives of being disabled in conversation with a multiplicity of diverse identities and experiences, many of which overlap. This shift has the potential to highlight the contribution of diverse perspectives within larger discourses about visual culture, media, and the (mis) representation of ‘Other’.

American Able provides an important example of contemporary Canadian disability art and demonstrates a clear intention of being critical of social norms around ableism while also attempting to reshape a disability narrative. There are clear

44 connections between artistic practice and activism, as well a disability politic used to examine capitalism and consumerism. As the artists involved in American Able also share identities that include queerness and disability, they introduce nuanced perspectives of multiple intersecting marginalized identities into the work.

Disability, sexuality and gender

Gender, sexuality and disability are major themes found in the American Able exhibition.

There are clear relationships between the social construction of (queer) sexuality and disability. This has been demonstrated heavily in performance disability art, although examples can also be found in all artistic disciplines. Carrie Sandahl explored queer and crip identities in solo autobiographical performances and outlined that one of the main themes between each of these identities is a consistent discussion, both publicly and personally, of what kind of bodies constitute as ‘normal’ and/or ‘desirable’. Sandahl elaborates:

“Perhaps the most significant similarity between these disciplines, however, is their radical stance toward concepts of normalcy; both argue adamantly against the compulsion to observe norms of all kinds (corporeal, mental, sexual, social, cultural, subcultural, etc.). This stance may even be considered their raison d’être, since both emerged from critiques levied against the normalizing tendencies of their antecedents.”54

It may be of no surprise that from these critiques of normalcy significant creative bodies of artwork have emerged that make these conversations visible. Sandahl argues that this

54 Carrie Sandahl, “Queering the Crip or Cripping the Queer? Intersections of Queer and Crip Identities in Solo Autobiographical Performance” GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies 9 (1-2) (2003), 26

45 unique perspective of multiple identities situates queer crip artists in a position to explore their own sexuality, gender and body and reflect it back to the public sphere.

Throughout history, the sexuality of disabled people has been repressed, controlled and policed typically by biomedicine in varying degrees, and it continues today55. Abby

Wilkerson has argued that sexual autonomy is a status symbol of citizenship and equality and that “sexual agency is central to political agency”56. Wilkerson calls for “powerful counter-discourses”57 which aim to overcome shame and medical sexual intervention, and argues that these counter-discourses are urgently essential “for all struggles for democracy and inclusion”58.

When exploring the role of sexuality within American Able, the effect is multi- layered. On the surface, the simple act of presenting a disabled women in queer sexual poses highlights the stark absence these intersecting identities and embodiments in advertising. Although there may be increased representation of queer or disabled characters in the media and in pop culture, they are rarely sexualized and, if they are, these representations tend to be saccharine, positioning queers and disabled people as having family values, high morals, and virtue. This opinion is reflected through the conflict many viewers had with the sexual nature of the images. Many American Able viewers expressed that they were disappointed to see a disabled women in a sexualized way, indicating that they were expecting the disabled model to be depicted in a wholesome narrative. Many comments included strong sentiments of shame and

55 Abby Wilkerson, “Disability, Sex Radicalism, and Political Agency” National Women’s Studies Association Journal, Volume 14, no. 3, 35, http://www.allacademic.com/meta/p237467_index.html 56 Ibid. 57 Ibid. 58 Ibid.

46 disapproval for this choice. sachse asserted her right to engage in the sexually suggestive images, standing in defiance of perspectives that oppose the sexualization of women in pop culture and the shaming that is associated with it. Ultimately, when interpreting or displaying any work where disability and sexuality are explored, the propagation of shame as it relates to the body is a critical intersection.

Art, public space and activism

While exploring the process of experiencing the display American Able in Toronto subway stations and online, it is important to address the impact of engaging with art displayed in alternative spaces outside of gallery settings, and its connection to activism.

Claudette Lauzon recently explored the work of Aboriginal photographer Jeff Thomas and his photo-based performance Seize the Space in relation to the impact of art and visual culture in activism in Canada. In his performance, Thomas photographed Canadian arts professionals at the foot of a large sculpture of Samuel de Champlain in Ottawa, a place where a sculpture of a historically inaccurate depiction of an “Indian Scout” was previously displayed. Many parallels can be made between Thomas’s performance and

American Able. Lauzon argues that, by performing this piece outside in a public space, a particular kind of discourse was possible that invited viewers to question the significance of public statues and, in particular, those of early colonizers.59

Miwon Kwon comments on the history of site-specific work in “One Place after

59 Claudette Lauzon, “Monumental Interventions: Jeff Thomas Seizes Commemorative Space” in Keri J. Cronin and Kirsty Robertson, eds. Imagining Resistance: Visual Culture and Activism in Canada, 2011, Wilfred Laurier University Press, 79-93

47 Another: Notes on Site Specificity”. She indicates that, as this art form emerged from the minimalist movement in the 1960s and 70s and was commonly understood as work determined or directed by its location and environment, the viewer had to be physically present for the work to be fully realized. Kwon points out the importance of institutional critique that considers “the social matrix of class, race, gender and sexuality of the viewing subject”60. This critique calls into question the impact of how the viewer experiences a work of art based on its connection to the entire arts milieu, extending from the museum to galleries, studios, the art market, and even art history. Kwon suggests that many artists want to interact with social issues and separate themselves from the elitist stigma of the arts milieu by entering into public spaces, ranging from hotels, churches, schools, prisons, supermarkets, and the streets, as well as by using media-based platforms such as the Internet, television, and radio. Furthermore, this desire to interact with societal themes means that site-oriented work is often informed by non-art disciplines, such as political science, anthropology, sociology, and history. Kwon argues that, in contemporary practice, site specificity is no longer necessarily about the fixed location, but has a more fluid discourse for engagement, which is socially situated.

American Able is situated within what Kwon defines as the third paradigm of the site-specific, discursive61. This paradigm is defined when the art is less about the relationship with the physicality of the space, but with the relationship between the work and the social significance of the space. American Able, which aimed to mock advertising

60 Miwon Kwon, “One Place after Another: Notes on Site Specificity” in October, Vol. 80, (MIT Press, 1997) 88, http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0162- 2870%28199721%2980%3C85%3AOPAANO%3E2.0.CO%3B2-I 61 Ibid. Miwon Kwon (1997) 96-103

48 and consumerism, was presented in the very spaces where the viewer traditionally consumes marketing. In some ways, the physical space of the subway station and the online and print spaces where the work was promoted conjure up similar social significance for the viewer. Both are spaces where viewers typically pass through quickly and where they are used to navigating while being constantly bombarded with advertisements and shopping opportunities. They are also both spaces that typically exclude disabled bodies due to inaccessibility of space or content. Displaying the work in these spaces had a huge impact on the reading of the work, as both allow viewers to be in a place where they may find themselves being surprised by what they were seeing.

Exploration, exploitation, appropriation or all of the above?

The inclusion of a disabled artist or theme does not instantly make an artwork disability art. When analyzing and considering a disability art piece, one must establish the identity

(or identities) and lived experiences of the artist(s), the intention behind the work, and, if the work was created through collaboration, the power relationship between the artists.

Due to the history of displaying disabled people for entertainment as was done by the freak show, curators must be fully aware if a disability-themed work they are displaying is exploitative or exploratory, as these types of work may look on the surface very similar. In disability art, the distinctions in artistic practice are key considerations that help address this question.

Exploitation and appropriation are strong and disparaging words, especially in the arts, that are founded at their very core on the conceptual contributions of the artist or artists. As a verb, to exploit means to use or benefit from someone or something in a

49 selfish or unfair way,62 while appropriation is to take something as your own, often without permission from the actual owner or creator63. There have been many examples of cultural appropriation throughout art history when artists in positions of privilege have benefited from artistic contributions of marginalized artists. A recent Canadian example includes the artwork of Ottawa artists Heidi Conrad and Sarah Hatton, two non-

Aboriginal white women, who used archival photographs of Aboriginal children at residential schools as the source material for a series of large-scale realistic paintings.

Their intentions were spurred by the Government of Canada’s recent public apology made to the people of First Nations for forcing Aboriginal children into residential schools. Aboriginal artists and curators were enraged and publicly critical of this work because it was a clear example where appropriation of Aboriginal people’s experiences benefited the careers of non-Aboriginal people in a work that many interpreted to have strong sentiments of pity and charity64.

While there have been more examples of backlash surrounding cultural appropriation in the arts as it relates to race and ethnicity, the exploitation and appropriation of disability culture has had less critical analysis and criticism. This is a critically important area which also requires future research. The use of disabled culture and bodies for the benefit and entertainment of non-disabled people is widespread, and there is very little critical analysis of this within mainstream society.

62 New Oxford American Dictionary, “Exploitation,” courtesy of Apple Inc. (Version 2.1.3 (80.4)) accessed December 20, 2011 63 Ibid. “Appropriation”, accessed December 20, 2011 64 Steve Loft (Aboriginal artist and curator), in conversation with author, Summer 2009

50

One example includes world renown French Canadian dancer and choreographer

Marie Chouinard who was acclaimed for her piece bODY rEMIX/ gOLDBERG variations

(2005). This piece incorporates mobility aids, prosthetics and crutches, and dancers portraying various movements that reflect and mimic those of disabled people65.

Chouinard did this not because she herself or any of her artists were disabled but because of the aesthetic value it brought to her choreography66. According to Chouinard’s website,

“the use of accessories gives rise to unusual bodily shapes and gestural dynamics and opens onto a universe of meticulous and playful explorations in which …[dancers] echo the human condition. An aesthete beyond norms, Marie

65 Alanna Thain,“The In-tensions of Extensions: Compagnie Marie Chouinard's bODY rEMIX/ gOLDBERG variations” differences: A journal of Feminist Cultural Studies, Duke University Press, 2008 Vol.19, 1: 71-95 doi: 10.1215/10407391-2007-017; Observed by the author in video documentation of the performance, accessed at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=---dWzYH-fM 66 Bree J. Hadley, “Celebrating difference/censoring difference?: Marie Chouinard’s bODY rEMIX.” Silent Voices, Hidden Lives: Performance and Censorship, International Federation of Theatre Research / Federation International de la Recherche Theatrale Conference 2009, 14-18 July 2009, University of Lisbon, Lisbon. (Unpublished), abstract accessed December 14, 2011 http://eprints.qut.edu.au/29441/

51 Chouinard presents her ideas on the way the indefinableness of the Other and the flagrancy of Beauty brush up against one another through an interpretation of Johann Sebastian Bach’s Goldberg variations.”67

In this description, there is no reference to disability or the experiences of disablement, but instead seems to further situate the movements and devices of disabled people as abnormal and goes on to instill the notion of Other as indefinable and opposite to beauty.

Not only is the appropriation of disabled people’s experiences troublesome, it is further exacerbated by the reality that there are underemployed, highly trained and professional disabled dancers and choreographers in Quebec, as well as nationally and internationally68. In addition, this work may have left non-disabled audiences with a feel- good sentiment, assuming that they had experienced a positive attempt to celebrate and include disability into arts and culture69, while others may have simply viewed the work as innovative artistic genius and not as an example of cultural appropriation. Many of these non-disabled audience members may also seem baffled when disabled people do not share in this celebration and are lacking the expected sense of gratitude. A critical discourse is missing around these appropriations and audiences seem to avoid questioning these ‘feel good’ representations. Critical analysis of art, especially the representation of disability in art, must question who is in control of the message, who is taking credit, and who is directly profiting from it.

67 Website of Marie Chouinard “bODY rEMIX/ gOLDBERG variations” accessed January 6, 2012, http://www.mariechouinard.com/body-remix-golberg-186.html 68 Based on conversations between the author and various Canadian disability artists including disabled dancers and the author’s professional observations and experiences engaging with the Canadian disability arts community between 2009-2011 69 Bree J. Hadley, “Celebrating difference/censoring difference? Marie Chouinard’s bODY rEMIX.” Silent Voices, Hidden Lives: Performance and Censorship, International Federation of Theatre Research / Federation International de la Recherche Theatrale Conference 2009, 14-18 July 2009, University of Lisbon, Lisbon. (Unpublished), abstract accessed December 14, 2011 http://eprints.qut.edu.au/29441/

52 It may be of no surprise then that when Holly Norris was publicly credited as the sole artist on a project centered on the lived experience of having a visible physical disability, people began to question her intentions and the level of jes’s involvement. One example is in the opening question of an interview between sachse and the online version of the pop-culture magazine Vice. The writer asked sachse, “Do you think she [Norris] used you to try and make her work more sensational as the rest off her stuff is pretty boring?” She responded:

“I don’t think Holly was ignorant to the sensation that using me as a model would create and after all artists hoping to make a living off their work obviously want exposure that will further their own career. I can only have faith that her intention was to honour me and my representation while opening a dialogue on a political issue. You’d be hard-pressed to tell me that if I took a self portrait I was exploiting the sensational. If Holly takes a picture of me its sensational, because you don’t see bodies like mine in this context unless you’re reading a medical textbook.”70

The main idea presented by the interviewer suggests that some found Holly’s ownership of the work problematic. Throughout the interview, it was apparent that Holly was deeply disturbed by these accusations of exploitation and seemed to interpret the usage of the word to imply that audiences questioned whether jes was a willing participant or not and assumed that she was coerced in some way. Holly did not seem to interpret these accusations of “exploitation” as a reference to the notion that her artistic career was benefiting from the use of sachse’s body and from the appropriation of disability culture, a double meaning that sachse seems to fully understand. In our interview she stated,

70 jes sachse in interview with Alex, “American Able,” Vice, accessed July 16, 2010, http://www.vice.com/en_uk/read/17311-revision-2

53 SACHSE. I can understand how perhaps if Holly is the only one writing this artist’s statement, people could interpret it as exploitation. And there is some validity there – her getting that platform – because I resisted wanting to write it in tandem. She wanted it written together like one cohesive paragraph and I wasn’t … I kind of opposed that because….It was like me fighting to make it sound like what the politics I hold and then Holly isn’t included in that and it didn’t really make sense to me ….

It is clear that Holly Norris in no way, intentionally set out to appropriate disability arts and culture. It seems that, at her core, she sincerely wanted to be involved in the movement and to be an active ally. She demonstrated a desire to publicly recognize sachse’s contributions through her request for sachse to co-write the artist statement and to be a collaborator. However, both artists stated several times that the work grew beyond it’s initial scope, and it is evident that it grew beyond Norris’ own understanding of disability, in large part due to her lack of lived experiences with visible physical disabilities. The reality is that the work grew into an effective disability art piece, largely because of the conceptual contributions of sachse, a visibly disabled artist. Unfortunately, the work ended up being presented through an artist statement and through public interviews, controlled in a large part by what sachse calls “an able bodied woman’s take on ‘the issues facing ‘women with disabilities’”71. Like the examples provided in this paper, audiences soaked up the opportunity for a ‘feel good’ moment, as pervasively demonstrated in the online comments and media coverage of American Able.

The issues of appropriation and ownership in this project are complex. sachse’s choice to participate in American Able seems based on her desire that the project be

71 jes sachse in a comment posted in response to “American Able”: Challenging Depictions of Women with Disabilities (NSFW)” by Gwen Sharp, The Society Pages, May 6, 2010 http://thesocietypages.org/socimages/2010/05/06/american-able-challenging-depictions-of-women-with- disabilities/

54 created, and her decision to not take credit for the work, based on her convictions that

Holly’s take on the work did not reflect her own opinions and politics. Holly’s choice to take credit for the work may have been considerably influenced by her friendship with sachse, her initial ideas, her extensive artistic contributions, her work on the project, and sachse’s encouragement to exhibit the work in Contacting Toronto and insistence that

Norris take full credit for the work. Unfortunately, the result of these choices was that

American Able provided Norris with a lot of public recognition for a work that was based on the experience of disability, rooted in the disability arts and culture movement and created through a reliance on the conceptual contributions of another, un-credited disabled artist. In retrospect it seems as though Norris may have been better situated to be a disability ally, instead of taking the credit as the sole creator.

The complexity of the relationships and artistic processes involved in the creation and presentation of American Able point out a critical area for investigation on the part of art educators and curators. Furthermore, additional research is needed on the area of appropriation of disability culture in the arts and pop culture. This case study points out that working relationships between artists are layered and complex and that understanding and interpreting disability art and the intentions of the artists is by extension also complex. These layers of understanding indicate a need for greater acknowledgement of the history of displaying disability and disability art on the part of curators, as well as a dedication to ensuring that disabled people have control in the ways their depiction is displayed.

55 Summary

Examples of the media coverage of American Able demonstrate the impact of the history of the freak show and the effect this has on the public’s medicalized curiosity of disabled people today. American Able is situated with the contemporary disability art discourse and highlights the significance of providing opportunities to display disability art that explores representations of sexuality. In addition, American Able is also consistent with contemporary discourses on art, activism and site-specific work. As curators begin to explore how to distinguish emancipatory disability arts, it will be helpful to question the ability for all involved to be conscious of the reliance on good intentions, examine and address the power relationships and take into account the ways they themselves as curators identify or understand disability. Disabled artists and curators with substantial knowledge of disability art and disability history, working independently or in collaboration with other arts professionals, may be best suited to address these concerns and history of display. In addition, the history of displaying disabled people as medicalized specimens and the effect this has on public medical curiosity today signals to curators to find ways to acknowledge this medical curiosity without necessarily contributing to it. In Part Three, contemporary curatorial discourses on the topic of displaying disability will be explored and how these impacts curating practices in disability visual arts. In the appendices, I will present strategies based on the outcomes of these findings and offer critical reflective questions for curators to consider.

56

P ART T HREE: C URATORIAL C ONSIDERATIONS

Although American Able wasn’t exhibited in a traditional museum venue, the analysis of its exhibition raises questions and issues for those working in art galleries and museums to consider, as well. To date, the greatest amount of research and literature about the representation (or the lack there of) of disability has been focused on museums and galleries and further research is needed to fully explore the implications on site-specific and alternate exhibition spaces. This section will explore the curatorial considerations raised by American Able that have been addressed recently by other scholars in the existing literature. For example, in 1998, Janice Majewski the Smithsonian accessibility coordinator72 and Lonnie Bunch the institution's Associate Director of curatorial affairs, identified three critical tiers of access for disabled people in museums, including access to representation in “The Expanding Definition of Diversity: Accessibility and Disability

Culture Issues in Museums Exhibitions”. At the time physical access to museums (ramps, automatic doors, accessible display cases etc…) was increasingly common practice in the

US73 and Majewski and Bunch highlighted the importance of reflecting disabled people and their arts, culture and history displays which they were now able to access. They argued that while many museums had recognized the need for interventions to address the absence and misrepresentation of women and racialized people in their displays, that

72 While accessibility coordinators were widespread in the US and the UK in major museums as early as the mid 90s, isolated museum accessibility coordinators only appeared in Canada 20 years later. The National Gallery of Canada had one accessibility educator from 2006-2009 (myself) and since then the Royal Ontario Museum, the Art Gallery of Ontario and the City of Ottawa Art Gallery have integrated accessibility consultants intermittently in contract positions, largely to meet AODA requirements. 73 In contrast, by 2011 Canadian museums and galleries still provide inconsistent physical access. Although many large galleries provide some access to facilities, most do not design exhibitions to be physically or sensory accessible, nor are there regulations to do so.

57 “people with disabilities ‘Past, present and future’ are rarely seen within exhibitions”74.

The authors provided a handful of examples of exhibitions, which had attempted to represent disability (or at the very least not hide it), including a visual arts exhibit of

Claude Monet, which highlighted the impact of developing cataracts in both eyes on his artistic practice.

In Museums, Society, Inequality (2002), Richard Sandell edited a collection of essays, which explored the role and responsibility of museums and galleries as agents of social change and sites of activism. Sandell’s opening essay “Museums and Combating of Social Inequality: Roles, Responsibilities, Resistance” communicates a clear message in response to those who claim that museums and galleries should avoid activism and maintain public positions of neutrality. Sandell argues instead that museums and galleries need to consider the societal impact of their representations (and absences) particularly of those who are oppressed or marginalized and to be proactive in ensuring that their collections reflect “contemporary values and a commitment to social equality”75. Sandell goes on to further explore the role of combating prejudice and inequality in museums in his 2007 Museums, Prejudice and the Reframing of Difference.

The Research Center of Museum and Galleries (RCMG), has taken the lead in the last 10 years, in investigating the representation of disability in museums. One important contribution by Richard Sandell, Jocelyn Dodd, Annie Delin and Jackie Gay for RCMG is the 2004 report, “Buried in the Footnotes: the Representation of Disabled People in

74 Janice Majewski and Lonnie Bunch, “The Expanding Definition of Diversity: Accessibility and Disability Culture Issues in Museums Exhibitions”, Curator, Vol.41, no.3 (1998), 175 75 Richard Sandell, Museums, Society, Inequality. (London, New York: Routledge, 2002) 21

58 Museum and Gallery Collections”. The researchers studied 10 British museums ranging in size and collections, including several with decorative art and social history collections and one with a fine art collection. RCMG found that although most curators indicated they had few holdings in their collection which related to a theme of disability or the lives of disabled people, further investigation by Sandell et al found many examples, although most were not on display and those that were, reinforced negative stereotypes about disabled people.

“Buried in the Footnotes” noted that many curators shared their discomfort in displaying objects which represented disability out of fear of offending or challenging their viewers. While some curators had already started to awkwardly navigate the display of disability, researchers noted that for many others this fear of ‘getting it wrong’ resulted in them avoiding displaying disability entirely, focusing instead on physical access to facilities. It was clear that posing questions to curators about the representation of disability became an intervention on behalf of RCMG, as many, like American Able curator Sharon Switzer, had not considered this question before. This response on behalf of curators may also point to larger issues in museum practice, related to the often ambiguous positions curators may be placed in within institutions, as they are often hired on contract, or for term positions. This, paired with the considerable lack of staff trained in history of the disability art, may result in a fear to disrupt the status quo and move the organization into unknown less explored territory, especially if there is a chance of public backlash or confusion.

One of the more pertinent questions addressed in “Buried in the Footnotes” by

59 RCMG report is the dilemma of staring.

“The display of material connected with disabled people has the potential to authorize staring as a negative response to oddity. Our research indicated that most curators were acutely aware of the risk of reinforcing negative forms of staring. Some felt that the material, once out there, was vulnerable to ridicule or inappropriate responses from Museum visitors”76.

Strategies suggested by curators included, providing didactic information about the experience of being stared at as well is posing questions back at visitors to reflect on what it feels like to be stared at. “Buried in the Footnotes” concludes by posing a series of questions that curators expressed during the study about displaying disability ranging from whether or not a museum should ‘out’ someone as being disabled to how to avoid promoting a freak show approach to displaying disability related artifacts. In response

RCMG created a series of reflective questions for museum curators to consider, including such questions as “Is the display based on the medical or social model of disability?” “Does the display include stereotypes of disabled people?” “Is the display personalized or depersonalized?”77 While many of these questions more aptly apply to curating displays in social history museums, these reflective questions can be an effective starting point for visual art curators.

The most comprehensive and contemporary exploration of the representation of disability in museums was published in the 2010 Re-presenting Disability: Activism and

Agency in the Museum. This collection edited by Richard Sandell, Jocelyn Dodd and

Rosemarie Garland-Thomson is an international compilation addressing several key

76 Richard, Sandell, Jocelyn Dodd, Annie Delin and Jackie Gay, “Buried in the Footnotes: the Representation of Disabled People in Museum and Gallery Collections”, (The Research Centre for Museums and Galleries: University of Leicester, 2004) 15 77 Sandell et al, “Buried in the Footnotes”, 20-21

60 topics and case studies, including examples from Canada, related to the development of curatorial practice for displaying disability. In Sandell and Dodd’s opening essay

"Activist Practice”, they set the tone, calling upon museum professionals who are concerned about presenting morally biased displays to remember that “there is no neutral position.” They go on to argue, “Just as visitors will create meanings out of the purposeful interpretations they encounter, they will also draw conclusions from the marked absences, awkward silences and skewed representations surrounding disability that they currently find in most museums.”78 The following are the findings from Re- presenting Disability, which focus on visual art exhibitions and/or Canadian examples.

A chapter written by Rosemarie Garland-Thomson, "Picturing People with

Disabilities" focuses on several contemporary portraits of disabled people, which have been displayed in public spaces. Garland-Thompson argues that although the genre of portraiture has traditionally been considered a conservative artistic practice used to denote prestige, importance and honour, by situating disabled people as the subjects portraits have the potential to become important political statements. Ultimately

Garland-Thompson calls upon visual art curators to ensure that the images, identities and narratives displayed, "promote new forms of cultural literacy"79 while at the same time urging them to dismantle and replace those which perpetuate stereotypes and stigma.

78 Richard Sandell and Jocelyn Dodd “Activist Practice” in Richard Sandell, Jocelyn Dodd, and Rosemary Garland-Thomson, eds. Re-presenting Disability: Activism and Agency in the Museum. (London, New York: Routledge, 2010) 20 79 Rosemarie Garland-Thompson, "Picturing People with Disabilities: Classical Portraiture as Reconstructive Narrative" in Richard Sandell, Jocelyn Dodd, and Rosemary Garland-Thomson, eds. 2010. Re-presenting disability: Activism and agency in the museum. (London, New York: Routledge,2010) 39

61 In contrast, Emma Chambers explores the role of portraiture in a very different way. In her chapter, “Face To Face Representing Facial Disfigurement in Museum

Context” Chambers explores Saving Faces, a challenging exhibit at the National Portrait

Gallery in London by artist Mark Gilbert. Gilbert produced nearly 100 works between

1998 and 2000 depicting people with facial disfigurement, before, during and after facial surgery, and a selection of these were featured in the exhibition. The work had been commissioned by surgeon Iain Hutchinson, as an educational endeavor to help inform the public about the reality of facial disfigurement and surgery, and what Hutchinson hoped, would be a therapeutic process for the sitters. The exhibit included a booklet that provided audience members with a detailed medical case history of each of the paintings subjects including information about their surgery, medical conditions and history with little biographical information. The artist was instructed to only paint the subjects head and shoulders, as to not distract the viewers focus from the face. However in the final

‘after’ portrait the artist insisted on showing the full body of the subjects outside of the hospital, as they look in their day-to-day life. Audience members’ comments collected demonstrated that they found the exhibit to be educational and that they were inspired by the medical intervention. This exhibit in particular, demonstrates a medical model approach, with work that falls closely within the genre of medical diagnostic painting and drawing. Without the intervention of the artist, this series would have resulted in further objectification of people with facial disfigurement as a means to glorify surgery.

In addition, by situating the portraits pre-and post-surgery this exhibit is further problematic as it sends a clear message to the audience that people with facial

62 disfigurement are in need of perceived medical improvements in order to be integrated and accepted into society, and that changing their appearance, i.e. ‘looking more normal’, through surgery will improve their lives.

A selection of Canadian examples were also highlighted in Re-presenting

Disability including a chapter by curator Geraldine Chimirri-Russell who shared her experience in curating a visual arts retrospective exhibit of Canadian Aboriginal cartoonist and disability rights activist Everett Soop. In this exhibition Soop’s wheelchair was placed in a central exhibition space, after a curator, noticed it abandoned in a snowdrift on his reserve after his death. “The wheelchair”, she noted, "became a silent but significant component of the exhibition”80. In addition to the wheelchair curators also included Soop’s walking cane, medical information about muscular dystrophy, and prominent quotes by the artist about disability. Chimirri-Russell also noted that greater curatorial considerations were needed systemically to address disability on a larger scale throughout gallery programming and that more was needed to fully include disabled people beyond simply providing limited physical access to its facilities.

Fellow Canadian curators, Kathryn Church, Melanie Panitch and Catherine

Frazee, also noted challenges in mounting the 2009 "Out from Under: Disability, History and Things to Remember" at the Royal Ontario Museum. While the exhibit display itself was historical, as disability history had never before been exhibited on that scale in a major Canadian museum, the curators faced several challenges throughout exhibition

80 Geraldine Chimirri-Russell, “The Red Wheelchair in the White Snowdrift” in Richard Sandell, Jocelyn Dodd, and Rosemary Garland-Thomson, eds. 2010. Re-presenting disability: Activism and agency in the museum. (London, New York: Routledge) 75

63 development, which required persistent pushback on their behalf. These ranged from initially only being offered a small room that had little public traffic and was used as a through-way for museum staff, to the museum pulling out from funding the exhibit's opening gala, to volunteer guides providing opinionated, inaccurate and disrespectful narratives about the display during public tours.

Finally, Heather Hollins concludes Re-presenting Disability with strategies to integrate emancipatory disability research into curatorial practice. She argues that the following six principles can be used when curating exhibitions about disability:

Reciprocity, Empowerment, Sharing of Expertise, Control, Accountability and

Reflexivity81. While Hollins admits that the process of constant collaboration with communities is not always easy, the benefits of re-evaluating institutional curatorial practice are worth it.

Building upon the contributions of Mejewski and Bunch (1998), Sandell (2007,

2010) and Hollins (2010) I explored Canadian disability-themed exhibitions in major galleries and museums in the 2010 “Shifting Definitions of Access: Disability and

Emancipatory Curatorship in Canada”. This essay described my investigation into the ways the disability and disability art had been curated in Canada and how this influenced my involvement in the City of Ottawa’s visual art exhibition Perceptions which included new commissions of work from artists who are Deaf or disabled. The exhibition was co- curated by curators who are Deaf or disabled along with allies and staff from the City’s

81 Heather Hollins, “Reciprocity, Accountability, Empowerment: Emancipatory Principals and Practices in the Museum” in Richard Sandell, Jocelyn Dodd, and Rosemary Garland-Thomson, eds. Re-presenting disability: Activism and agency in the museum. (London, New York: Routledge, 2010) 240-241

64 public and community art departments. Based on my investigations and experience, I suggested that the most effective ways to curate disability-themed exhibitions were an emancipatory approach and included three key attributes: 1) the curatorial process was collaborative, including diverse cultural professionals with disabilities, 2) content was both selected and often created by disabled people and 3) exhibit spaces and content were accessible.82

Throughout these examples in the literature, as well as in the case study several key challenges are identified in curating disability art. They range from historical associations with display, to the interpretation and public perceptions of the work, to the lack of agency of the disabled people involved as well as several examples of curators who faced resistance, backlash or the threat of backlash for displaying disability. Much research and consideration has been given to the importance of displaying and representing disability including many successful examples and concrete strategies. In order to better support curators working with disability art, Appendices II presents a summary of these strategies as well as pose reflective questions, particularly focused on the curation of visual art exhibitions.

82 Elizabeth Sweeney, “Shifting Definitions of Access: Disability and Emancipitory Curatorship in Canada”. (Muse Magazine, Canadian Museum Association, 2010)

65 C ONCLUSION

The case study for American Able raises a number of issues about the creative process, particularly between disabled and non-disabled artists, as well as the impact of artist statements on audiences and the media. Audience comments suggest that many interpreted the work as a public awareness campaign, rather than a critical and reflective disability artwork. Audience feedback indicates substantial narratives of pity and charity, which were resented by the disabled artist involved.

The case study highlighted the role of curators and the need for greater understanding about disability art as well as the history if displaying disability. It was evident that those involved demonstrated dedication to bringing issues related to the lack of representation of disabled women into the public forefront, however the lack of experience in this particular art movement does indicate the need to provide greater resources and context for curators and artists in the future. As curators select disability art it will be helpful to examine and qualify the power relationships between disabled and non-disabled artists and take into account the ways they themselves as curators identify or understand disability.

This case study also raised substantial concerns about the understanding of cultural appropriation as it relates to disability, and further research is needed to fully understand how this can be better understood both in popular culture and in the arts. It became evident that all involved need to be conscientious of the reliance on good intentions, and their own ability to critically engage and understand the work.

In order to understand how the display of disability is understood and interpreted

66 by audiences today, this research highlighted the impact of the ways disabled people have historically been displayed as entertainment in freak shows and dime museums. These display practices reinforced negative power imbalances between disabled and nondisabled people as well as exploited them for profit and amusement. Disabled people were often displayed as medical specimens and this fascination continues today, as indicated by the media’s repeated publication of sachse’s medical history when reporting on American Able. This public medical curiosity, signals to curators to find ways to acknowledge this without necessarily succumbing to it within their own displays.

This paper also brings up the importance of presenting artwork, such as American

Able, which explores the intersection of disability, gender and sexuality in ways which may disrupt the preconceived notions audiences may have about disabled people. This is closely related to the role of activism within disability art and the impact of this work within public or site-specific spaces. Due to the historical exclusion of disabled people and disability art from museums and galleries, as well as the potential for public engagement, site-specific public spaces may provide new opportunities for audiences to engage in work in ways they may not be expecting.

This research also addresses on-going challenges and systematic barriers in trying to incorporate disability into exhibitions and in creating accessible displays. Although curators may have a lack of experience in displaying disability art, several recent exhibitions demonstrate the possibility of greater representation in the future. Examples of recent Canadian disability-themed exhibitions suggest a growing shift towards an emancipatory curatorial approach, which include a collaborative curatorial committee,

67 including disabled curators with knowledge of disability art, content selected and created by disabled artists and exhibitions which offer multiple accessible entry points for audiences. For this to be possible disabled arts professionals require greater opportunities to engage with exhibitions, pointing to a critical need in Canada for designated curatorial internships, collaborations as well as national and international targeted curator residency programs. Canadian visual arts professionals, working in disability arts may also benefit from exchange and dialogue with artists and curators in countries that have more established disability art sectors, such as the United States and Britain.

Through the course of this research, disability art, artistic practice, and the relationship between representation and display have been explored, analyzed and expanded upon. As disability art continues to grow and evolve in Canada so must our understandings of artists and art practices, as well as the theoretical understandings needed to curate and display it. In order for this to happen it is essential that arts professionals and artists continue to write about, document and critique disability art including its representation in visual art exhibitions. This research provides preliminary contributions to the contemporary discourse needed to curate and display disability art.

Curators will now have greater resources and knowledge to draw from, and ideally this will result in disability artists working in the visual arts having in greater and more meaningful opportunities necessary for their practice to advance.

68

A PPENDIX I R ESEARCH M ETHODS

By undertaking an in-depth, descriptive case study of the American Able display, this research paper will provide insight into contemporary disability art and related issues of creation, interpretation, and display. Information and documentation about the display were gathered and analyzed from published print and online materials, from those involved and from media coverage of the exhibition. Separate one-on-one interviews were conducted with each of the artists and the curator, and each were asked a series of questions related to the exhibition including their creative process, opinions and experiences. Throughout this paper individual quotes from interviews with the author are indicated by an indentation, single spacing and begin with the first name of the interviewee. Quotes on a particular topic or question are often presented alongside those from more then one person, but unless otherwise indicated, these comments are from isolated interviews and they should not be interpreted as conversations between participants.

Public feedback on the exhibition published through social media was also collected, including such sources as formal and informal media coverage, comments and reflections posted online in unedited comments sections, blogs, on websites, and through online forums and discussion boards. Additionally, the information presented in the case study is enriched and contextualized by secondary source research and analysis that looks at the historical context, contemporary discourse, and curatorial considerations.

69

A PPENDIX II

S TRATEGIES AND REFLECTIVE QUESTIONS

These strategies and questions are in no way exhaustive, or absolute. Choosing which idea to incorporate will depend on an organization’s level of experience with disability arts and access, their budget and size. They are however a collection of approaches that have been thoroughly considered and integrated in other situations and as such provide an ideal starting point in which to explore disability within contemporary curatorial practice. Appendix III provides a list of resources, including tools, guides, policies and handbooks that may help in the integration of these strategies.

1. Leadership: Who is in control of the exhibit and who benefits?

Strategies

I. Curators should have an expertise and knowledge of disability rights and disability art, particularly in large focused disability art exhibitions. For smaller disability art displays, including partial representation in group exhibits curators may choose to be in constant consultation with disability arts experts. II. Assemble a collaborative curatorial team comprised of disabled arts professionals and knowledgeable allies. This allows for diverse experiences, expertise and understandings of disability and art to be incorporated. This may also mitigate community or public backlash by ensuring a reputable process. III. Provide increased opportunities for disabled artists and arts professionals to participate in curatorial and research internships and residencies.

Reflective Questions

• Are there more opportunities for disabled arts professionals to be involved in the leadership and curatorial process? • Do those in charge of the exhibition, including disabled people, have an appropriate level of understanding about disability art, disability rights and display? • Have assumptions about disability and/or disabled people been made, from a non-disabled person about the direction of the exhibition? • Will disabled people benefit from being involved in this exhibition and by viewing it? • Is there a process in place to ensure accountability? • Is there a reflective or evaluative process to assess how the curatorial process and the exhibition affected the lives of disabled people?

70 2. Content: What is displayed?

Strategies

I. Present artwork that is both created by and selected by disabled artists II. Create both opportunities for disability art themed exhibitions as well as opportunities to include disability art and disabled artists in other thematic group exhibitions in your institution. III. Consider the physical and sensory access of diverse audiences including those with disabilities, in your selection of artworks. Select pieces that provide opportunities for interaction, tactility, audio and non-auditory experiences.

Reflective Questions

• Is there disability art in our existing collection? Are there ways that disability has been hidden or left out of the current framing of the work? How can we help to share this history and expand the disability art archive? • What conclusions will audience draw from the absence of disability and disability art in our collection? • What is the power relationship between the subject, the artist and the audience? • What is the contribution of the disabled subject in the work? Is it passive or active? Do hey have control of the project and how they are being displayed? • Does this work fall into themes associated with the disability art movement either nationally or internationally? • Are there other disability artists working in this theme or material, to compare this work to? • Does this work challenge current assumptions and stereotypes about disability or does it reinforce them? • Do the works displayed explore a diversity of experiences and identities which overlap with disability, including but not limited to race, sexuality, location, language etc...? • Does this work advance current contemporary disability art discourse or is a repetition of what has already been explored by other artists? • Who benefits from this exhibition? • Am I confident that there is no intentional or unintentional cultural appropriation of disability culture or identity in the work on display?

3. Display: How is the content displayed?

Strategies

71 I. When incorporating works that create opportunities for staring or medicalized curiosity consider ways to directly address these through didactics, or though juxtaposing the work with other pieces which highlight the relationships between the viewer and the subject. Working closely with arts professionals with disabilities will in most cases be the best way to facilitate this. II. Ensure that disability art is given equal consideration, presentation and space as other exhibitions or works in your collection. Historically disability art is given smaller or less predominant sites of display. III. Ensure that the exhibition is physically accessible. If your institution is not physically accessible, then explore ways to create the exhibition in multiple spaces such as through online and off-site exhibits. This may also highlight to the administration for the need for greater physical access in your organization. Many standards have been developed to assist with universal design principals in galleries, and piloting these standards are critical to establishing their full integration. IV. Consider the impact of displaying disability art in locations such as in the gallery, online and alternative public exhibition spaces, and how these will impact the audiences viewing of the work.

Reflective Questions

• Is the display based on the medical or social model of disability? Is the display personalized or depersonalized?83 • Are the exhibit spaces and content accessible? Have I consulted with visitors with disabilities to ensure that? • How can we address the public’s medical curiosity without framing the subject within the medical model?

4. Programming and Didactics: What messages do audiences receive?

Strategies

I. Due to the history of exclusion of disabled people to cultural and arts spaces, targeted outreach may be needed to message that this segregation is being addressed within your institution and exhibition. Directly invite disability communities (including audiences, artists, arts professionals etc…) to your exhibition programming. II. Unless indorsed by the artists and relevant to the work, it is typically not advised to include detailed medical information about a person’s impairment or medical history. Speak with the disabled people involved in the project and ascertain how they talk about their identity and what language they use to

83 Sandell et al, “Buried in the Footnotes”, 20-21

72 describe themselves. III. If the work creates opportunities for staring at disabled people, consider providing didactic information about the experience of being stared at as well is posing questions back at visitors to reflect on what it feels like to be stared at. IV. Train staff, particularly those who will be interpreting the work for the public, including guards (even if it is not their job, they often taken on this role), volunteers and educators. Provide information about how the work should be contextualized as well as appropriate and inappropriate language endorsed by the artist. V. Integrate and promote the perspectives and presence of disability artists into current gallery programming, including in artist talks, as art educators, lecturers, tour guides, guest curators etc… VI. Whenever presenting text either in labels, panels, or in catalogues, consider the level of language and the format. Successful alternatives include the integration of captioned, signed and audio video messages, or significantly reducing the amount of text in the display. VII. Consider multiple and alternative methods for audiences to provide their reflections or feedback on the exhibit, including online discussion forums or video booths.

Reflective Questions

• Is there medical information about the artist’s impairments? If so is it relevant to the reading of the work, endorsed by the artist and using language they indorse? • Are gallery programs accessible? And in answering this question it may be also helpful to explore your own motivations for accessibly – is it greater audience ticket sales or are you making an attempt to address discrimination and exclusion? • Do gallery staff and volunteers know how to talk about the work appropriately? • Are there ways to challenge audiences to question ‘absences’ both within a particular artwork and also within museum or gallery collections? Are there disability artists who are already exploring this?

73 A PPENDIX III R ESOURCES

The following resources represent a selection of tools, links, organizations and policies on disability, art and accessibility. This is not meant to be an exhaustive list. For Deaf arts resources including a directory of Deaf visual artists, please contact the Deaf Culture Centre, http://www.deafculturecentre.ca/Public/index.aspx

Canadian Disability Arts Organizations: Visual Arts and/or Multidisciplinary

1. Abilities Festival, Toronto/national, www.abilities.ca 2. ArtBeat Studio, Winnipeg, MB www.artbeatstudio.ca 3. Artists Helping Artists, Burnaby, BC, www.aha-artists.ca 4. Creative Spirit Arts Centre, Toronto, ON www.creativespirit.on.ca 5. Folie/Culture, Montreal, QC, www.en.folieculture.org/ 6. Gallery Gachet, Vancouver, BC, www.gachet.org 7. H’art of Ottawa, http://www.hartofottawa.ca/studio.htm 8. Les Impatients, Montreal, QC, http://impatients.ca/ 9. Nina Haggerty Centre for the Arts, Edmonton, AB, www.ninahaggertyart.ca 10. Sol Express, Toronto, ON, http://www.larchetoronto.org/solexpress.html 11. SPARK Arts and Disability Network, Winnipeg, MB, www.Sparkartsanddisabilitynetwork.blogspot.com 12. Studio C, Calgary, AB, www.prospectnow.ca/Services/Studio%20C.aspx 13. Veith Street Gallery Studio Association, Halifax, NS, www.veithstreetgallery.org/ 14. Visions sur l’Art Québec, Montreal, QC, www.vsaq.org 15. Vincent et Moi, Quebec, QC, http://www.institutsmq.qc.ca/a-propos- de/programme-vincent-et-moi/programme/index.html#c542

Disability Arts and Culture

1. Canada Council for the Arts, (Canada) “Focus on disability and Deaf arts in Canada”, http://canadacouncil.ca/NR/rdonlyres/F50AEFA1-C5D8-4B8F-8F5E- 766FEBFB41AE/0/FocusonDisabilityandDeafArtsinCanada.pdf

2. “Disability Arts Advocacy Project 2007, (AU) http://history.dircsa.org.au/1900- 1999/arts/

74 3. Bonnie Sherr Klien, Shameless: The ART of Disability. 2006. Documentary film, National Film Board of Canada, (Canada) http://www.nfb.ca/film/shameless_the_art_of_disability/ 4. National Arts and Disability Center (NADC) (US), http://www.semel.ucla.edu/nadc

5. Embrace Arts (UK), http://www.le.ac.uk/embracearts/index.html

6. National Institute of Art and Disabilities (US), http://niadart.org/

7. Kickstart, Disability Arts and Culture, (Canada) http://www.kickstart-arts.ca/ 8. VSA Arts (US), www.vsarts.org 9. Art Beyond Sight (US/International), www.artbeyondsight.org

10. SHAPE Arts, (UK) www.shapearts.org.uk

11. Disabled Women on the Web, Arts and Culture, (US/International) www.disabilityhistory.org/dwa/library_b.html

12. Cultural Disability Studies Research Network (UK) http://www.cdsrn.org.uk/

13. International Guild of Disabled Artists and Performers (International) (IGODAP), www.igodap.org/

14. Association of Mouth and Foot Painting Artists Worldwide (International) (AMFPA), www.amfpa.com, http://www.vdmfk.com/

Accessibility in the Arts

1. Southeast ADA Center, “Arts and Museum Accessibility Resource List”, http://www.adasoutheast.org/resources/resource_lists.php

2. National Center on Physical Activity and Disability (NCPAD), “Museums, Zoos and Aquariums - Enhancing Accessibility” Fact sheet www.ncpad.org/fun/fact_sheet.php?sheet=68§ion=510

75 3. National Center on Physical Activity and Disability (NCPAD), “What to Know Before You Go: The Big Questions to Ask Before Arriving at Your "Accessible" Recreation Destination” www.ncpad.org/fun/fact_sheet.php?sheet=319§ion=1974 4. Equal Access: Universal Design of Your Project - A Checklist for the Universal Design of Projects, www.washington.edu/doit/Brochures/Programs/design.html

5. National Endowment for the Arts’ Office for AccessAbility www.arts.gov/resources/Accessibility/index.html

6. National Endowment for the Arts’ “Design for Accessibility: A Cultural Administrator's Handbook” http://www.arts.gov/resources/Accessibility/pubs/DesignAccessibility.html 7. National Endowment for the Arts’ “Accessibility Planning and Resource Guide for Cultural Administrators” http://www.arts.gov/resources/Accessibility/Planning/index.html

8. Graphic Artists Guild, Downloadable Disability Access Symbols https://www.graphicartistsguild.org/resources/disability-access-symbols/

9. Smithsonian Guidelines for Accessible Exhibition Design www.si.edu/opa/accessibility/exdesign/contents.htm

10. International Directory of Arts Access Resource Centers www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/ContentDisplay.aspx?id=19648

11. Adaptive Environments Resources List – Cultural Facilities www.adaptenv.org/index.php?option=Resource&topicid=3

12. Association of Science Technology Centers (ASTC) Resource Center, “Accessible Practices”, http://astc.org/resource/access/index.htm,

13. Association of Science Technology Centers (ASTC) Resource Center, “Equity and Diversity” http://astc.org/resource/equity/index.htm

14. Art education for the Blind “Art Beyond Sight” (US/International), www.artbeyondsight.org

15. Arts Council England, “Building inclusion: Physical access guidance for the arts” http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/media/uploads/pdf/Building_inclusion_access_gui dance.pdf

76 16. Arts Access Australia, http://www.artsaccessaustralia.org/

17. Artsline, http:// www.artsline.org.uk

18. Elizabeth Sweeney, “Walking with Janet Cardiff, Sitting with Massimo Guerrera, and Eating Apples with R. Murray Schafer: Meaningful museum experiences with participatory art for visitors with and without visual impairments” Journal of Museum Education, Volume 34, Number 3, Fall 2009: 235 - 248

Selection of Policies on Disability and Access from Arts organizations and funders

1. Arts Fund, Arts Council of Northern Ireland, www.artscouncil- ni.org/departs/all/equality/access-equality.PDF

2. Americans for the Arts, www.culturalpolicy.org/pdf/access.pdf

3. Arts Council England, Disability Equality Scheme 2010-13 http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/media/uploads/Disability_Equality_Scheme.pdf

4. Art Gallery of Ontario - Customer Service for visitors with disabilities, http://www.ago.net/customer-service-for-visitors-with-disabilities

5. Canada Council for the Arts, Expanding the Arts: Deaf and disability arts, access and Equality Strategy, Executive Summery, (written by the author), http://canadacouncil.ca/NR/exeres/1BCE8821-B2BD-4DE6-B9AF- CDDA64FA99DD

6. Ontario Arts Council, Accessibility Standards for Service to the Public Policy, http://www.arts.on.ca/AssetFactory.aspx?did=5095

7. Ontario College of Art and Design University, Accessible Customer service Policy (AODA), http://www.ocadu.ca/Assets/pdf_media/ocad/about/accessibility/aoda_customer_s ervice_policy.pdf

8. Ontario College of Art and Design University, Accessibility Sub-Committee, Terms of Reference & Annual Accessibility Plans, http://www.ocadu.ca/about_ocad/accessibility/Accessibility_Sub- Committee_Terms_of_Reference___Annual_Plans.htm

77 B IBLIOGRAPHY

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O NLINE S OURCES C ITED FOR C OMMENTS

1. Abby Jean, “American Apparel, Meet American Able” FWD/Forward, (feminists with disabilities) May 10, 2010, http://disabledfeminists.com/2010/05/10/american-apparel-meet-american-able/

2. Alex, “American Able” Vice, http://www.vice.com/en_uk/read/17311-revision-2

3. Nicole Baute, “This isn’t an American Apparel Ad” The Toronto Star, published in print and online May 10, 2010, http://www.thestar.com/living/fashion/article/807331--this-isn-t-an-american- apparel-ad 4. Becca, “Jes Sasche and Holly Norris Poorly Campaign For Disabled Models Represented In Mainstream Media” Demi-Couture: Fashion Blog, May 11, 2010, http://demicouture.ca/2010/05/11/jes-sasche-and-holly-norris-poorly-campaign- for-disabled-models-represented-in-mainstream-media/ 5. Wyndham Bettencourt-McCarthy, “American Able Disses Fashion Advertising, Apparently” Torontoist, May 21, 2010, http://torontoist.com/2010/05/american_able_american_apparel_parody/

6. Pete Book, “Take That, Kneester-Hipsock American Apparel Formula!” The Bag News, May 20, 2010, http://www.bagnewsnotes.com/2010/05/differently-abled- or-take-that-kneester-hipsock-american-apparel-formula/

7. Nadia Coppi “American Able, la sexbomb inattendue”, ChoucrouteGarnie (France), May 12, 2010, http://choucroutegarnie.fr/choucroutes-du- web/choucroutes-branchouilles/american-able-la-sexbomb-inattendue/ 8. Julia Caron, “American Able: Satire and sex appeal on the subway” Ryerson Fee Press, July 12, 2010, http://ryersonfreepress.ca/site/archives/2076 9. Julia, Caron “american able: why does fashion have to give us complexes?” à l'allure garçonnière, May 26, 2010, http://alagarconniere.blogspot.com/2010/05/american-able-why-does-fashion- have-to.html

10. Julia Caron, “American Able” WORN fashion Journal May 3, 2010, (Condensed version of full article posted on à l'allure garçonnière) http://www.wornjournal.com/html/american-able

82 11. Joanne Costello, “American Able and the Not-So-Hip Capitalist Patriarchy” Marginal Notes, May 26, 2010, http://marginalnotes.typepad.com/pj/2010/05/will-american-able-save-us-from- capitalism-and-its-hipsters.html

12. Michelle Diament, “Can Disability Be Sexy? Disability Scoop, May 14, 2010, http://www.disabilityscoop.com/2010/05/14/can-disability-be-sexy/8048/

13. Elisha, “American Able”, Grrrl Perspective, May, 10, 2010, http://grrrlperspective.blogspot.com/2010/05/american-able.html

14. Steve Hall, “American Apparel Taken to Task for Definition of 'Ordinary People'” AdRants, May 11, 2010, http://www.adrants.com/2010/05/american- apparel-taken-to-task-for.php

15. Heather Ann, “American Able” MetaFilter Community Blog, May 6, 2010, http://www.metafilter.com/91669/American-Able

16. Lulu, “American Able” Where’s Lulu: Disability News & Pop Culture, May 11, 2010, http://whereslulu.com/2010/05/11/american-able/

17. Melissa, “American Able: Disability and Sexuality” for National Center on Physical Activity and Disability (NCPAD) blog, Endless CapABILITIES, February 21, 2011, http://blog.ncpad.org/2011/02/21/american-able-disability- and-sexuality/

18. Amelia McDonell-Parry “American Able Photo Series Spoofs Hypersexual American Apparel Ads Using A Disabled Model”, The Frisky, May 5, 2010, http://www.thefrisky.com/2010-05-05/american-able-photo-series-spoofs- hypersexual-american-apparel-ads-usin/

19. Nicky “Sexy. Disabled. Clever.” Mamamia, June 6, 2010, http://www.mamamia.com.au/social/sexy-disabled-clever/ 20. Julie Ryan Evans, “‘American Able’ Ads Really Get Real” The Stir, May 6, 2010, http://thestir.cafemom.com/healthy_living/102646/_American_Able_Ads_Really

21. Gwen Sharp, “‘American Able’: Challenging Depictions of Women with Disabilities (NSFW)” The Society Pages, May 6, 2010, http://thesocietypages.org/socimages/2010/05/06/american-able-challenging- depictions-of-women-with-disabilities/ 22. Caroline Stanley, “You’ll Never Look at American Apparel Ads the Same Way Again” Flavourwire: Cultural News and Critique, Photography section, May 5,

83 2010, http://flavorwire.com/88294/youll-never-look-at-american-apparel-ads-the- same-way-again 23. Elizabeth Switaj, “American Apparel, American Able: What does the girl next door really look like?” Gender Across Borders: a global feminist blog, May 11, 2011, http://www.genderacrossborders.com/2010/05/11/american-apparel- american-able-girl-next-door/

24. Author unknown, “American Able [nsfw?]” topic posted on discussion forum Hipinon (Warning: site contains several offensive and derogatory comments), May 5, 2010, http://forums.hipinion.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=11173

25. Author Unknown, “Disabled model poses for anti-American Apparel themed art project” Oh No They Didn’t! June 5, 2010, http://ohnotheydidnt.livejournal.com/46576296.html

84