This section of DAO provides disabled artists and writers with a space to give our readers an inside view of their art practice, share thoughts and receive comments and feedback.
These blogs provide an informative and entertaining insight into how disability and impairment are experienced from a disability perspective.
The opinions expressed in these pages are not necessarily those of DAO.
Stormy skies, Fallen down trees, Where is the light? No chance of sleep. Rumbling all around, Followed by lightening, The pressure of feeling overwhelmed, is slightly worrying. When the storms begin to fade, The light begins to appear, and the pressure gives way, to help us see that the light was always here, Once we get out of the stormy circle, Our minds begin to clear, The things that ...
Yoko’s Pieces for Orchestra depend on parts 4-6 being defined by the instructive words ‘tear’, ‘touch’ and ‘rub’; words that reach out to a humane instinct within me and feel like a life lesson or summary. I feel a connection and choose my own words. Juice; From Tear to Touch to Rub Torn Into a world of death ...
The other week I had a meeting with a gatekeeper and he tore my work to shreds. He wasn’t someone I’ve ever worked with or met before. (crucially he wasn’t in any way associated with any of the organisations I’m currently working with.) We were supposed to be meeting for a mentoring session, I’d sent ...
The recent suicide of L’wren Scott appears to be overshadowed by headlines about Mick Jagger being her boyfriend e.g. ‘Mick Jagger says ‘’I will never forget her’’ and ‘Mick on stage in Australia when he hears the tragic news’. Why would Ms Scott, a successful fashion designer with ‘A’ list clients take her own life? ...
I wonder what would happen if every birth came with a side effect leaflet, would there be less births? Do we care about the pain of existence for some people? What happens if you have an overdose of people? Or an overdose of pain that no tablet can touch? I can only outline the side ...
Listen to this article: I regularly scan the internet for disabled and D/deaf films – and make lists for next time I'm lucky enough to be a programmer. In 2016, I was thrilled to come across Matthew Hellett's 'Mrs Sparkle'. It's unusual to find disabled LGBTQI+ films, especially ones with excitingly surreal narratives. Written and performed ...
Who remembers the day Theresa May was electioneering on the South Coast? She took a bag of chips from a reasonably reputable chippie and then found herself flummoxed when someone put a can of coke in her spare hand. It was like the Ed Milliband food disaster photo but the media and the satirists seemed to ...
The week's Course I went on the Architecture Beyond Sight course at the Bartlett School of Architecture in London, with no expectations and I’ve gained far more than I could ever have imagined. The days spent at the institute of making and the British Library have given me a better understanding of materials, there uses and I ...
It's the week of the broken promise budget and we are being told austerity is over whilst schools are being thrown peanuts, the police get nowt and universal credit remains. Meanwhile a book asks me to write about the first tooth I lost and enquires about how much the tooth fairy left me. As if ...
After considerable time recovering from all my hard work creating a 360° online artwork and 2 insulations/live performances, I am trying to complete the final part of my R&D ‘Surroundings’ project. And this is where you dear blog readers, enter centre stage. To further the progress of my 'Surroundings' project, I will need your responses to questions concerning the ...
