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Performance 

REVERENCE: We 3

REVERENCE: We 3 is a performance series created to travel across the American landscape highlighting the lack of accessibility or failure to maintain accessibility still existing in our society. I place myself as an object of reverence to serve as a reminder of what is and what could be in areas where accessibility does not exist or has not been maintained. I am joined by two empty wheelchairs to represent my sister and my brother and all the people who have fought and continue to fight for inclusion, equity, and equality in the disabled and aging communities. Each performance lasts for 3 hours and participants are invited to bring flowers to be placed around the performance area and/or in the seats in the empty wheelchairs. Participants are encouraged to come back at the end of 3 hours and will be asked to help scatter the pedals around the performance area creating a mosaic of inclusion, equality and equity while highlighting the truth: we have a long way to go for full inclusion.

The images above are from my residency in Taos, New Mexico where I was Artist in Residence for the Paseo Project. This beautiful, small, desert town  is not without its faults. I spent the month of June surveying the community and it's accessibility. What I realized is in this small town where the majority of its population is 40 and up, it is ill prepared for influx of disability as people age, and represents several small towns across the United States where accessibility is virtually non-existent.  

Contributing Photographers:
Dave Roland - Atlanta, GA
Cara Wiseman - Stockbridge, GA
Nicky Knodle - Atlanta, GA
J. Matt Thomas - Taos, NM
Jana Greiner - Taos, NM

Who Am I? Who Are You? A Conversation in Times of Distance 

My original Franklin Furnace Proposal was based on one’s ability to share in a moment of intimacy with an individual who is disabled. Often times, individuals with disabilities are seen as fragile people this ideology is toxic and blocks the outside world from engaging with the disabled community. In Who am I? Who are you? A Conversation in Times of Distance utilized anonymity, technology, and current social distancing guidelines to capture the audience through text and disguise. My identity was revealed following a 5 hour and 33 minutes occupancy of the cube which was tagged with clues the participants had to decipher before my big real. 

Contributing Photographers:
Nicky Knodle - Atlanta, GA
Isabella Amaya-Grote - Atlanta, GA

Art in Odd Places -AiOP21: Normal 
                                   AiOP18: Bodies 

AiOP21: Normal - The Normal Depot: The Cost of Normal
Our current climate has us asking "What is the NEW "Normal?" But, what if your concept of "Normal" has never really been "Normal?" At the "Normal Depot" rather than viewing an itemized list customers walked through a sidewalk sale where are the price  tags reflect the costs to be a normal individual living with a disability in the United States. From the wheelchair I sit in, to the lift I use to transfer, to the caregivers I pay $13.00 per hour (state budget issued), to other odds and ends, and even my own physical body which the state has priced at $58,000.00, was for sale. The customer (participant) was meant to experience the absurdity behind the cost of essential items for one of the most underemployed and financially strained demographics in our country. People ask "What is the NEW Normal?" My "Normal" is and has always been just trying to exist.

Contributing Photographers:
Nicky Knodle - Atlanta, GA
Isabella Amaya-Grote - Atlanta, GA

AiOP19: Bodies - Graze and Gaze 
Otherwise known as Playing Into the Spectacle, Graze and Gaze was a two-part performance that examined the eye of the onlooker. In Graze, I sat at a table prepared with a meal and wine while wearing a bovine-esque Bowery inspired costume adorned by the labels society has imposed on me for being a large disabled woman. My breast were exposed to display vulnerability and how society perceives me when I eat in public: a cow grazing in a field. As onlookers passed by and our eyes locked, I extended my hand asking for help to see who would stop and assist me. Later, those who denied assistance to somebody based upon the way they look would face internalized questioning as to why they refused to stop and only stare.

Gaze was a twist on the YouTube  tutorial videos where in I recorded myself preparing my face for the day and recreating my brows in front of an eyebrow salon that was inaccessible to people with disabilities. The world  and society has failed to properly prepare itself for me but, still, I prepare  myself to face the world every day and actively try to make a change.

Contributing Photographers:
Katie Hector - Los Angeles, CA
Walter Wlodarczyk - New York, NY