Reading about Judith Scott really reminded me of the CCW folks and the photography project that we are currently doing. The CCW participants do not have much experience with photography besides taking photos with their phones, so Lain and I have to teach them how to use a digital camera. Since this is a cooperative project, I don’t want to have too much of my voice in the photos, but a lot of times, when teaching the participants how to take photos, I will need to show them some angles and tricks and take a couple shots before they have the camera in their hands. And here is the thing that I’ve always been wondering about: are the CCW participants just following what I did, or are they doing some creation of their own? How much should I get involved?

Hello to you all, 

I want to first express my regrets for not being able to lead the workshop today. I wish all institutions ran on queer time (I attached an amazing article to this post as well if you guys want t fun read), but alas, we are not there yet and I couldnt move my schedule around. Nevertheless, Anne and Jody have been prepped to lead today and hope you all enjoy the workshop. Attached are my notes and the article. Please email for further questions, and as always, I am always open to conversation.

As I was reading Siebers, I thought back to weeks 5 and 6 where we talked about reason, neurodivergence, and cognitive disabilities. The question of which body-minds are allowed into academia sounds very similar to the question of which body-minds are allowed in art. I was very bothered by the position that cognitively disabled minds were incapable of having strokes of genius or of being creative, and wonder how the neurodivergence movement shapes disabled culture. 

The Kuppers piece reminded me of a piece we read in Disability and Super-Ability in Film, about the postmodern idea of "becoming."  That piece argued that people with disabilities --and in fact, all people -- are constantly forming "systems" with the objects and people that they engage in interdependence with.  They don't exist as a fully autonomous version of themselves, but enter new modes of "becoming" as they move in and out of these systems.

How do you draw a soul leaving a body?

I didn't have the vision, but I was asked to do it anyway.

Like this? 

No. More round at the top.

What about this?

No, darker around the edges. You ever play Pacman?

The dynamic was different at the prison this time round--more guys, two of which we hadn't seen last time. One of them had this need to constantly have that attention, the kid that always wanted to go last because they thought their ideas were the best, their drawing was the coolest, their story the most engaging. '

I felt more like a school teacher: writing on the white board, explaining games, pitching in on a drawing. 

I spent a lot of the session at PICC this week talking with one of the guys. He had a lot of questions for me based on observations he'd made. We talked about my background, how my family's from China and I grew up in China, and how he wants to visit China some day. I felt a little hesitant to answer his questions about myself at first, but I felt myself opening up to him and responding honestly to all of his questions. He remembered that I had said something about my girlfriend last session, and asked me about how my family feels about my sexuality, as well as whether my family cares or not if the person I date is of another race or not. I was put off, not used to being asked questions like these so blatantly and upfront.

My home is filled with portraits made by my aunts, as well as mosaic landscapes and architectural pieces created by my mother. The entirety of my childhood was spent at a dance studio, where I was able to escape outside pressures and find joy in the movement of my body alongside the rhythm of the music. To say the least, I’ve found my life to be constantly connected to art. I’ve always had this idea that art allows everyone to escape into a world fully controlled by the individual.