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.
Ray Avards was a sometime ago friend. A big fan of nature and sport and a committed solicitor focused on community care. He was prone to depression. One day it just got too much for him. We all know the social care system is buckling under pressure through austerity. Ray had been pointing this out ...
Signs; Share This Space is a sister poem to its brother, 'No One Shared His Space', which almost as if by magic will appear in a few weeks time. The sister is good and remains positive. Her brother not so. Just thought i'd keep you hanging on for a while in this glorious summers sunshine. Signs; ...
Spirit is the latest exhibition I have produced: a body of autobiographical works, it's about living with complex post traumatic stress disorder after being stalked and victimised. How do you survive 'gaslighting'? This body of work is that which saves us and is saving me. 'Gaslighting' aims to discredit a person. Its aim seems to be to ...
Many people express amazement, fascination and sometimes gentle envy at what seems to be my life. I’m not that famous, I’m not a celebrity and I certainly don’t have that sort of bank balance. Who really does in the arts? In my hometown of Hastings I am recognised on the street because I gig here regularly, ...
Turtle Key Arts have a long-standing reputation in their role as creative producers advancing participation in the arts by disabled, disadvantaged and socially excluded people. For the second year running they partnered with the Lyric, Hammersmith to produce JOY – a flagship project of the Hammersmith and Fulham ArtsFest showcasing local established and emerging disabled ...
I can call it home Tiled floors, Cold upon my feet, as I began to explore, Inside these four walls. It was dark and damp, dirty and smelly, it was hard to see, that this was once a home. The cobwebs were tidied up, Dead flies were seen, The walls are falling apart, The furniture was left unclean. There is a lot to do, before i can call it ...
Thank you Yoko for the instructions to peel, peek and take off as given in Numbers 1-3 Piece for Orchestra. Now you’ve made me confess openly to my own humanity and the absence of a radical edge whilst looking for something to do and accepting an offer to do something outside of my political position. ...
My Facebook live interview wasn’t easy to keep going for 2 hours, particularly when answering online questions and responding to passing comments. But somehow it seemed to be successful, after trying to work out which way up to hold my iPad. A comic and rather embarrassing start to what turned out to be an enlightening ...
I went to see the Little Cog production of Another England on its opening night at the ARC in Stockton. I have huge admiration for Vici Wreford-Sinnott's writing and was expecting a play that told the truth about the horrific times we are living in, with a sense of urgency ... and that's pretty much ...
Last April I performed the first scratch of my show Defiant Journey at Stratford Circus Arts Centre. Supporting me with blogging, project partners DAO ask what I learnt and how did it meet my expectations? I have decided to answer this over several posts. In order to give quality feedback, from myself and audiences reached. The ...
