Outside the Lines II

Curatorial Statement

This exhibit takes its name from Outside the Lines: Self-Portraits by Artists with Disabilities, a show curated by Persimmon Blackbridge in 2001. As a starting point, Persimmon gave each artist a set of limits: the self-portrait theme and a 15 inch square. What the artists did with the limitations was up to them, but I suspected they wouldn't hesitate to venture "outside the lines".

And sure enough, to quote Persimmon:

All twenty-one artists have broken the square we stuck them in: quietly, outrageously, with anger, with joy. ... As a person with a disability I love the wildly creative ways we find to deal with the limitations that society and/or our own bodies throw at us.

With Outside the Lines II, I wanted to give some of those same artists, as well as some new discoveries, the opportunity to show more, different and newer pieces – no particular theme and no limitations. The only distinction, the common thread that binds these works – "disability" – begins to take a back seat to other concerns and interests. Yet, I believe, this collection of voices, by quietly stating "We have disabilities", is making a powerful political statement.

Painting their popular idols, expressing their lived experience or unconsciouly echoing milestones in the disability movement, these artists display a broad range of creativity; from raw talent to elegant artistry.
Geoff McMurchy, Curator

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