How is your work positioned in the Disability Arts movement?

I work largely within the theories and traditions of the international Disability Arts movement. I am come from the Social Model of Disability, where what disables us is not our impairments but society's responses to them. Alongside this is an acceptance of impairment firstly as being a normal part of the human condition we can expect to experience to some degree at any point during our lives.

I see my body as deviating from social expectations, but not from nature; I have no desire or yearning for 'correction' because I do not believe there is anything 'wrong' with me. I also do not believe that science will ever possess this power of correction, and that society is currently suffering from a form of collective body dysphoria in thinking that it will.

I was extremely fortunate to be granted a residency at the National Institute of Medical Research (NIMR) in 2006, supported by the Wellcome Trust's Sci-Art fund. The fund required artists to team up with scientists before putting in a funding proposal. I was lucky enough to work with a wonderful curator at NIMR, Simon Gould, who identified two scientists, Evelien Gevers and Malcolm Logan, who would be interested in working with me. I essentially wanted to explore two things: how cultural perceptions of science affect our beliefs about what is ‘normal'; and whether there was a ‘Scientific Model of Disability' hidden within the Medical Model.

Your will be addressing the theme of ‘Augmentation' at the Super Human symposium. What exactly is this?

I am taking it for granted that augmentation will not be routine worldwide, nor that if it is that there will not still be inequalities within the augmentations adopted by each individual. Therefore we must not assume that augmented humans will necessarily gain rather than lose social status as a result of their augmentations, nor that society as a whole will be prepared to make changes to accommodate them on an equal basis, however much augmented humans otherwise have to offer.

I'm always pleased to see Disability Equality training materials pointing out that few of us 'look disabled'. For instance, 'visible disability' most often means 'visible disability aid'. The fact that you 'can't tell' immediately on meeting someone whether they have an impairment or not serves to underline the fact that there is no dividing line outside of social constructions of disability.

It is ironic that wheelchair use, which is also very much about enhancing function rather than conforming to the norm, carries such stigma when car and bicycle use does not. In general we are such a wheel-dependent society. However it is viewed as being 'normal' to use wheeled transport of all sorts apart from chairs. As a part-time wheelchair user, I am particularly interested in the stigmatisation of wheelchair use, which causes many people who would benefit from using a wheelchair to desist from doing so.

What role can artists with a disability play in raising the issue of Augmentation?

I am very interested in the cyborg/body augmentation discourse from both a disability and a feminist perspective. I first developed work on this in 1997 when I uploaded the site 'My Not-So-Secret Life as a Cyborg'. This documented my decorating a spinal brace and using this to explore social constructions of disability by 'doing disability' as performance art. I don't agree that the body is inadequate. No technology has ever got close to reproducing our various abilities, let alone overtaking them. However, the nature of biological life is that it is constantly in transition, and individual forms are continually degrading even as they are growing. As a collection of systems, the 'design' of some parts of the body is certainly much poorer than others, however superior the overall form is to technological alternatives. I think the cyborg as imagined in different ways has a lot to teach us about the reception of 'augmented' humans. Cyborgs typically lack freedom of movement and equal rights with humans. Similarly, today disabled people do not have equal human and civil rights with non-disabled people, and are seen as being in need of containment and control.

I think it is interesting to see that, as the 'Disability Pride' movement grows, there are increasing numbers of disabled people who are happy to show off their aids and prosthetics and 'revel in their difference'.There are growing numbers of amputees who choose to wear their prosthetic legs without cosmetic covers. For instance, the Finnish comic artist Kaisa chooses to wear skirts but not to cover the workings of her prosthetic legs, and this is increasingly common among children and young people in the US too. Kaisa has written a graphic novel about her decision to have her feet and lower legs amputated so that she can walk more easily and live without painkillers. Of course, economics probably also play a part, since 'lifelike' silicon covers are extremely expensive, but in this example the prosthetics are clearly about enhancing function rather than conforming to a 'normal' aesthetic.

I've seen a variety of work by artists who are affected by Thalidomide, and one performance in particular by Mat Fraser that stayed in my mind looked at the experiences with prosthetics of children affected by Thalidomide in the 1960s. Engineers who hoped to be able to replace limbs with functioning prosthetic eventually conceded defeat, but not before many children had had non-standard limbs and digits amputated to make prosthetics easier to fit. Video footage that Mat obtained and used in his performance showed small children screaming in distress as they were forced to try out different designs.

Who are some of your influences?

I have always found my fellow members of the Disability Arts movement inspiring and informative. Although I would hope that my work stands alone. Like many artists who have joined the movement, my practice did not develop to take in the concerns of the Disability Art movement until later in my life. The turning point for me was the making of My Not-So-Secret Life as a Cyborg in 1997. Only after that did I realize that this work could be situated within the theories and traditions of the Disability Art movement, and actively began to explore and connect with other disabled artists. This seems to be a common experience. For example, in the UK, artists such as Nicola Lane and more latterly Jon Adams were making work for many years before developing their practice and identifying as part of the movement.

http://superhuman.org.au/

Media inquiries:

Amanda Matulick - ANAT, Communications Manager
08 8231 9037 / amanda@anat.org.au

Gareth Wreford - Arts Access Australia, Executive Director
0419 201 338 / ed@artsaccessaustralia.org