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Has anyone else noticed this?
That everytime the newspapers or similar write about disabled artists they go out of their way to find the one's who are either very much beginners or who have at best rudimentary art skills?
Seriously it's a case of "Here's so and so, so and so is tragically disabled, however he can draw a lopsided circle, isn't he inspirational and so talented to be able to draw a lopsided circle with his awful condition?".
It's infuritating because those of us who have the same conditions but who have spent the time and effort to catch up with our non-disabled artistic peers are glossed straight over in favour of elevating someone who is picked solely because he or she has a disability and finger paints. Not to mention it paints a picture of disabled people as being woefully inept at art but worthy of high praise for being so "inspirational".
I can count on one hand the number of exhibitions I've seen featuring disabled artists that actually showcased anyone with even a moderate level of skill, most of those however didn't even mention the artist's disability, it was hidden away in the info sheet like some dirty secret.
Disabled artists face a lot of challenges to actually progress but when we do? It's treated like a dirty little secret while egbert who only picked up a brush last week gets his scribbles displayed up as an example of "disabled artists" everywhere.
It's so annoying that if you're disabled and good at something? People try to hide the fact that you're disabled as if it's a bad thing for people to know that we can succeed at things as well as anyone else.
Hell some "disabled" exhibitions won't even take art by a skilled disabled artist unless it looks like you painted it by jamming a paintbrush up your nose and sneezing it at the canvas, because it might "upset the others". God forbid we ask that people recognise that disability doesn't necessarily mean finger paints! -
A problem I've come across it that because I have mental health issues it is assumed that I will automatically find art or gardening therapeutic. The problem is I don't.
I couldn't draw or paint before my diagnosis and, guess what, I still can't.This is a reply to this message.
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Art and gardening aren't for everyone. Indeed, I'd argue that they're not as theraputic as people think.
I love art and it still drives me up the wall sometimes especially when nothing is going right for me and I have a deadline to meet.
It's not something I'd reccommend to mentally ill people since it can be a stress in and of itself if you're working to improve rather than arting for the sake of arting. It can be a horror to anyone who has perfectionist tendencies as part of their condition, mine regularly drives me into despair over my artwork.
Gardening is fun but it's exhausting, can be expensive and for three quarters of the year the garden is either frozen or a mud swamp. Not exactly conducive to helping depression...
You slog for 9 months in the garden so you can enjoy 3 months sitting out in it.This is a reply to this message.
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I hate gardening. Lots of work for very little reward. And I hate art.
Well, I don't *hate* art. I love doing crafts with my 4 year old neice. Cutting and glueing and sticking and colouring in. I may buy myself one of those "plastercraft" kits for christmas. But "grown up" art, nah, I'd rather not.This is a reply to this message.
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I have a love-hate relationship with art.
Crafts can be art as well, it doesn't need to be a van gogh or Leonardo Da Vinci to be good art. There's some incredible craft artists out there.
I'm largely just tired of the mainstreams insistance on portraying all disabled artists as inept by only lauding the beginners or those who don't care about being better as "disabled artists".
Some of us have worked hard at our chosen area of art. It's very annoying to be overshadowed by people who are getting into big galleries on the "pity vote". Disability is pretty much the death of an artist's career unless you're unskilled enough to invoke pity.This is a reply to this message.
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One thing about chronic fatigue is I'm tending to be less of a perfectionist because I'm just too knackered to make the effort. This does still bother me but I'm working on that.
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Has anyone else noticed this?
That everytime the newspapers or similar write about disabled artists they go out of their way to find the one's who are either very much beginners or who have at best rudimentary art skills?
No, never.
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I actually do find art very theraputic.. when Im depressed as I am now I sometimes get all my feelings blocked up inside and find it hared to diffuse them safely.. doing computer art stuff helps me with that because it allows me to express myself without having to use words.
I love the process of laying down images and then manipulating them, I find it soothing and distrating when im becoming a tad paranoid and anxious.
I dont attempt to sell them but I do like sharing them. A few releven to disability are on the "creative" thread here.
Maybe WA if you feel strongly about this you should contact your local newspaper, express your disquiet about the stories theyve covered and get themto come and do a story about you to help redress the balance ?
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I was toying with the idea of agreeing with you until I thought of Schumann and Van Gogh. Don't they count? And what about Rodrigo?
Ok I know two were composers. But they kind of buck that stereotype don't they.
Then there's Ian Dury.This is a reply to this message.
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I was toying with the idea of agreeing with you until I thought of Schumann and Van Gogh. Don't they count? And what about Rodrigo?
Sad truth is that if they lived today they'd be ignored in favour of some scribble/a bed in a gallery, indeed old artists did not become remotely successful until after their death and often in the art history books their disabilities are downplayed.
I'm talking in particular about illustration, painting and that sort of art, I don't think this applies so much to performance art. At least not that I've seen.
There's even a type of art disabled people are often plonked into "outsider art". Usually they pick mental health patients for that type of art, apparently being mentally ill makes us 'purer' and 'untainted', doesn't matter one whit if you can draw a circle, scribble on a scrap of paper and if you're mentally ill? It's immediately "outsider art" even if it's something that has been done by countless people, simply because someone with a mental illness or a learning disability does it? It becomes a thousand times deeper than any other of the billion or so iterations. Of course this works best if you don't actually have any skill because a crude stick figure is seen as far more insightful than any amount of perfectly painted nudes.
I'm just annoyed that I must work twice as hard to be considered half as good as my artistic peers, but if I hadn't bothered working? I could be a top artist just for being disabled and producing stick figures. Apparently there's a 'socially acceptable' face of disability when it comes to artists who work with pencil and paints, I'm not it because I actually learned things like shading, anatomy and the basics.
So therefore I'm often stuck in with a group I'll always lag behind due to my disabilities (how good can you become when you have to keep stopping due to fibro pain?) but I'm not unskilled enough to be a top "disabled artist". Being a half and half is intensely frustrating, I have all the disadvantages and none of the assistance that others get.
It's like running up a mountain on a broken leg, getting to the top with all the people who don't have broken leg then finding out they crowned someone for not even bothering to walk across the starting line simply because he met some arbeitrary set of tastes.
It's not so much bitterness, I just think it's absolutely childish that as artist's disabled people are expected to match non-disabled people without any adjustment a lot of the time but rewarded for being pitiful and not very good. Being an illustrative artist and a disabled person is a hard line to walk. You either have to be socks down knock em dead good to the point where your disability ceases to matter because you are just that good, or you need to be unskilled so people can call you 'inspirational' and pity you.This is a reply to this message.
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I don't know, WheelArtist, how wide you are casting your net here, but I thought I would tell you about the theatre. There are several professional disabled companies working in Britain, not least Greae. They do amazing, professional grade work and no one judges them on the "disability scale". If a critic does not like what s/he sees, they will say so, disabled or not. I also know that being a disabled actor in no way gives a person a free pass to perform badly and they will get lynched if they did.
Unfortunately, because of the dog eat dog attitude, many disabled actors are simply scared away from the profession, because they are too worried that critics will call them "sad cripples", or simply not take their work seriously. I think it's two sides of the same coin, but tolerance for impairment is very low in Theatre.
Just thought I would bring that into the mix.This is a reply to this message.
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I have noticed the bit you get at in the first couple of paragraphs in all aspects (not just art) is almost a weekly occurance in our weekly rag.
for example
John Smith, you has profound disabilities reaches new heights and is taken for a spin with the RAF rescue helecopter.
He went out and braved the dizzy heights, despite overcoming difficulties where the pilot had to get out and help his wheelchair into the back.
He was given a full tour of the area, and the crew thought he was so much a natural, they took him over the sea.
After touchdown, he was given an award for immense bravery and achievement
This kinda stuff gets my goat, because all I am thinking is, there is absolutely nothing brave, incredible or amazing about having someone lift you into the back of a chopper, that combined has logged over a million hours flight time without a single fatality, where you are 100x more likely to have died on the journey to or from said base.
this kinda stuff totally discounts and distracts from what really is brave, inspirational and amazing.
The same guy probably puts up with abuse, theft, benefit problems, ignorant doctors etc
but none of that is worth a single word, and the stuff that isn't even anything, is given a full page
people reading this, are just gonna think "bloody hell, if thats the most scary, difficult, inspirational, coragous thing he has ever done, what an easy ride in life he gets"
There is no doubt a story for this if things are quiet, and no doubt someone might be interested, but to flood words with such huge meaning into the article, where those words are not warranted at all, totally mislead public opinions on disabled.
I think this ties in very well, with how a simple blob on a piece of paper is described as "amazing achievment" when, really its not.
it would be amazing achievment for someone in a 30 year coma, who given zolpidem would wake for 5 minutes, utter a word, and then make a blob themsleves
but for someone who can make a blob whatever day whatever time, disabled or not, it totally ruins it
i agree with several postersThis is a reply to this message.
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On the showjumping circuit there is a lady who has a below the knee missing limb, (not sure if it was an amputation) who competes at the highest levels and NEVER mentions her disability.
She doesn't compete on the disabled team as the jumps are so ludicrously low her horses would fall over them !
She is a professional, in that her entire living is made from producing and competing top class horses.
Compared to the tragedy model of "X suffers from Y yet doent stop him achieving sucess jumping 80cms. He recently competed at zzz, achieving 7th place in a strong field of 8. Well Done X, a true story of grit and determination and success."
Actually, sorry but it's not success compared to the professional rider with a worse condition from a riding point of view, from a pain point of view, from a dedication and hard work point of view.
It is amateur daubings compared to professional painting, but super hyped by the media and the tragedy model.
Achieving the ordinary with total and absolute support is not exceptional, achieving the extra-ordinary with very little help, financial, physical, emotional etc, is exceptional.
Mind you achieving the extra-ordinary without help is usually exceptional too, regardless of disability.This is a reply to this message.
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Posted by STRANGELY STRANGE ( A brain on a spring ) (U2496023) on Sunday, 8th November 2009 permalink
~tragedy model~, not Heather Mills then?
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My husband went to art therapy for a short while as he has a mental health problem and he found it no help whatsoever. Just because he has his illness doesn't mean he's a good artist either.
A lady, on hearing I have a serious sight problem, promptly said words to the effect that somebody or other was a piano tuner. I had to then explain that not all people with sight loss are musical, me especially not as I've got a hearing problem too.
AB community appear to have pre-conceived ideas about certain disabilities and what you may be good at.
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wooooooooooooooooooooooowwwwww
such a brave booaaayyyy - today he opened his mouth to eat some soup despite having been ill since day 1
a quick google lol, ranked 7 or 8 was this thread hahahaha
threads before did have some amazing stuff that was deserving (flick readin)
but....
www.thisisstaffordsh...
this is exactly what we are on about
so and so has condition X and has had over 100000 operations, how brave
I racked up a lot of time in hospital too, maybe that makes me brave, i've been under a general 5x, so i am special tooo, and amazing and couragous and inspirational
quick make a article DPS ASAPThis is a reply to this message.
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I suppose I should clarify. I thought the second post made it clear that I'm relating in terms of illustrative artists though it happens to other fields no doubt, I just don't have experience in them.
I've had people describe me as 'broken' before and give me a hard time when due to disability I hadn't drawn in say six months, apparently if I had really wanted to I could shrug off my disability and produce something amazing even with the semi paralysed hand I had at the time.
I was also accused of lying about my disability when I explained it another time. Nobody ever seems to think that you can and do find disabled artists doing anything illustrative that isn't a blob or a bad copy of a cheesy cottage print.
It's even more annoying when someone compares me to someone who had 50+ years of good health to learn art before becoming disabled. It's like how does anyone expect me to match someone who has had four times my experience and no disability for most of it. They've certainly never gone to an art class only to find they can't get in because it's held on the second floor and there's no lift.
I do get better but I'm constantly compared to my able bodied peers and told I'm "lazy" for not matching them even when they've had six months of intensive courses and I've been hard pressed to even get out of bed for that time.
And if I'm compared to disabled figurative artists, I'm pretty much dismissed because "Everyone knows" that disabled illustrative artists are the 'edgy' ones who scribble on the page to show "the futility of man" or whatever nonsense the galleries make up to sell them as outsider artists.This is a reply to this message.
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some "disabled" exhibitions won't even take art by a skilled disabled artist unless it looks like you painted it by jamming a paintbrush up your nose and sneezing it at the canvas, because it might "upset the others".
That isn't just patronisation, it is discrimination and making a hierachy of disability.This is a reply to this message.
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Frieda Kahlo!
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Would it be wrong of me to say that my knowledge of art is 'sketchy'? On a more serious note I didn't know Freda Kahlo was disabled.
Wasn't Monet or Manet - always confuse them - partially sighted?
WA I do still recognise your point and it is a really good illustration of the wonderful individual tragedy model of disability.This is a reply to this message.
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