Transforming access to make disability desirable and resilient to ableism

Photo caption: Ocular Occurrences photograph by Dr. Pam Patterson. Glasses frame by Mel Rapp with a thank you to Sissie He for photographic assistance (5’ x 3’ on satin photo paper).

“For ‘disabled’ people, our bodies exist in tension with the normalized expectations of ordered bodies,” says Assistant Professor Dr. Pam Patterson, an OCAD U professor who is leading a new research project that examines how our bodies’ experiences remake our worlds.

Transformative Access: Activating Disability Desires, a WIAprojects project, is funded by the Toronto Arts Council and is presented in collaboration with Gallery 1313 and OCAD U’s 113Research, a research-creation, exhibition and project space.

“We are asking questions such as, ‘What can a body do to architectural structures, institutional expectations, medical practices and to the very conditions that first created inaccessibility?” she explains.

“In this project, the ‘disabled’ bodies we inhabit will engage with ideologies, people, policies and structures. We are asking: how can the "crip" body act, given its creative potential, be centred in these practices and be resilient to ableism?”

As part of this 2024-25 research project, there will be a series of events and exhibitions, opening on September 3 and 15, with more to come this fall and early 2025.

Image caption: Harmeet Rehal, Manjas as Mobility Aids, Mixed Media, 2023.

Project Launch and Exhibition Opening

September 3, 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., Gallery 1313

The first exhibit opens with a community event on Sept. 3 at the Window Box Gallery (WBG), located at Gallery 1313, 1313 Queen St. W. The gallery is accessible.

Co-curators Mason Smart and Jack Hawk are showcasing artists in the WBG who explore desire, friction and care through a disability lens. The first of these is Toronto disability-identified artist Harmeet Rehal whose presentation, Manjas as Mobility Aids, 2023, will run from Sept. 3 to Oct. 30.

Work by other artists include Sunshine Torme Johnson and Hollis McConkey.

The WBG will be visible from 1 to 5 p.m., Wednesday through Saturday, and from 1 to 4 p.m. on Sundays.

To discuss access needs for the opening event or exhibition series, please contact Mason Smart at mason.smart@ocadu.ca. 

Exhibition opens Sept. 15 at OCAD U

Ocular Occurrences opens on Sept. 15 at OCAD U’s 113Research, a gallery located on the fifth floor at 113 McCaul St.

Curated by Lauchlin MacQuarrie, with artist Dr. Pam Patterson and designer/author Mel Rapp, the exhibition explores tensions between visual distortion as generative and desirable, and the medical mapping that seeks to contain and define such distortion.

For further information, please contact EJ Kneifel at ejkneifel@gmail.com 

About Transformative Access: Activating Disability Desires

This research project engages OCAD U-graduated educators, interpretive planners, artists, curators and guests, many of whom have completed the University’s Faculty of Art’s Art & Design Education Lab courses and/or are members of the Creative Research Inclusive Practices (CRIP) Lab.

For example, on October 25, there will be an online workshop, Disability Aesthetics and Accessible Curation for OCAD U graduate students. The session takes place from 4 to 6 p.m. and will be moderated by Dr. Patterson and Hannah Dickson. Presenters include Ali Brown, Cathy Cappon, Megh Dorward, Jack Hawk, Victoria Ho, Grace MacDonald and Mason Smart.

WIAprojects, directed by Dr. Patterson who is leading this project and partnering with OCAD U’s CRIP Lab. CRIP Lab, co-founded by Dr. Patterson, Roman Romanov (OCAD U) and Matt Hawthorn (University of Derby, U.K.) seeks to advance equity, inclusion and access by becoming a leader in critical, multilateral research, art and design. Through a global network of accessibility and inclusion-focused practitioners, the lab is engaged in knowledge creation and insights through participation and expression.

WIAprojects acknowledges generous funding support from the Toronto Arts Council and City of Toronto.