FREE PANEL DISCUSSION ON ACCESSIBILITY, DISABILITY, AND THE ARTS – April 27

FREE PANEL DISCUSSION ON ACCESSIBILITY, DISABILITY, AND THE ARTS

Saturday, April 27, 2019

3-4:30 pm

The Reach Gallery Museum Abbotsford

32388 Veterans Way

Abbotsford, BC

www.thereach.ca

604-864-8087

In recent years the Canadian art world has seen the growth of a vibrant deaf and disability arts movement that draws attention to the unique challenges faced by disabled artists and audiences, as well as making space for their valuable contributions. Inspired by these developments, as well as by the life and work of current exhibiting artist Mohsen Khalili, The Reach Gallery Museum is hosting a free Panel Discussion about Issues of Accessibility & Disability in the Arts. Artists Mohsen Khalili and Carmen Papalia will discuss their own experiences navigating the art world as disabled artists in a moderated discussion led by Yuri Arajs, Artistic Director of Kickstart Disability Arts & Culture. Their conversation will be followed by a Q&A from the audience.

This event is accompanied by ASL interpretation, and The Reach is grateful for the support of the Hamber Foundation for this project.

Mohsen Khalili is an artist originally from Iran who has been living and working in Canada since the mid-1990s. His artistic career has been deeply affected by a number of medical conditions that attack his organs, skin, and bones. As he continued to work with physical tools that are increasingly failing, Khalili has embraced an aesthetics of imperfection – by “making undone,” he uses his work to reflect on the universal nature of entropy, and to remind us that to have a body inherently means learning to live with failure. His current retrospective, Remote Gardening with Dysfunctioned Tools, is on display at The Reach until May 5, 2019.

Carmen Papalia is a Vancouver-based artist and advocate who uses organizing strategies and improvisation to address his access to public space, the art institution, and visual culture. His socially engaged practice is an effort to unlearn visual primacy and resist support options that promote ablest concepts of normalcy. Papalia’s walks, workshops, and interventions are an opportunity to model new standards and practices in the area of accessibility.

Yuri Arajs joined the staff of Kickstart as Artistic Director in October 2015. Having founded numerous art non-profit organizations and galleries, he has worked with and shown the artwork of hundreds of artists who live with disabilities, from the USA, Canada, and internationally, for more than two decades.

Thank you very much!

Best regards,
Adrienne Fast