March 8, 2018 - 23:55
I loved the way in which Tim and Andreana emphasized the full inclusion of "outsider artists" into the art community, while still acknowledging disability as part of the work. It was a balance of these two sides that I felt made sense, as this has been the trend with other marginalized groups such as women, queer artists, and artists of color. Their framework did not flatten the work of disabled artists to being only that, but it also did not erase disability or the identities of the artists either. One question that stays with me coming out of the talk, however, surrounds this framework of inclusion. I wonder whether, in an art world dominated and largely controlled by privileged artists and art buyers, whether including marginalized groups one by one actually shifts the power dynamic. How can we keep ourselves from othering artists while also preventing a system of gatekeeping in which groups must earn membership to the art world? One of the most striking things, in my opinion, about progressive art studios is that artists understand and evaluate their work on their own terms, rather than someone else's. How can we shift the art world itself to work in that way? It seemed Andreana and Tim were also grappling with this question, and I was struck by the way in which they implied that this inclusion of "outsider artists" might also cause the art world itself to change form.