artitudes

A.S. Naomi Narvey

Lumiere Nordique, Danse du Vent
monoprints

I am a Vancouver-based artist on disability level II for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Learning Disorders (LD), and Hypoglycemia. It is difficult to understand and explain the way I am because at first glance I seem ‘normal’. So all the expectations of normalcy are continually demanded of me. So I keep being disappointed, and disappointing most people. The only area where I feel ‘normal’ is in the arts. Of course.

I struggle with the disability aspect of identity; I never expected to be labeled that way, yet my whole life I knew something was off; I was only diagnosed completely and accurately two years ago. In Vancouver, over the last decade, I have integrated many other ‘labels’ which resulted from the original combination of undiagnosed conditions. My spirit pulled me through because along the way there were people who accepted, encouraged, and even celebrated my being here.

"People with disabilities live at a different pace."
Bonnie Sherr Klein

So far, I have been documenting my existence as a female artist in our times. People are now speculating on the number of artists (creatives) who had disabilities. I am new to this side of the line of disability culture; previously I was an ‘outsider.’

The lines have moved. It doesn’t change my relation to art, although it opens a new doorway. I have yet to discover how my condition affects my work, now that I am conscious of it. I can tell you that combining identities of ‘disabled’ plus ‘artist’ has been excruciating; consequently, the writing of this is also. I am certain that a visual/literary artist’s (female) interpretation of the experience of my condition is cutting edge. Even as I consider myself ‘professional,’ in terms of actual achievement my career has been ‘emerging’ for at least 15 years due to my condition. I am also strongly concerned with the live of the artist (while alive); a crucial and much diminished issue in our society and community.

The time is right for kickstART!

Maurice Paradise