Deaf Rage and Subversive Scrawling: The Exhibition Where Disabled Artists Strike Back
Though the art world is often touted as inclusive, many disabled creatives experience a starkly different reality. In a groundbreaking online exhibition at dis_place, titled I Need to Be More Than a Lesson You Learned, nine artists and collectives have poured their frustrations into powerful artworks, challenging superficial diversity efforts and demanding genuine accessibility.
Curator's Vision: From Frustration to Action
Curator Nathalie Boobis explains her motivation: "I had a lot of frustration about the performance of diversity, equality and inclusion." Feeling that the art world's commitment to disabled access was often performative rather than sincere, Boobis initially stepped away. However, an opportunity to become the in-house curator for Disability Arts Online's new exhibition space, dis_place, provided a chance to highlight disabled experiences authentically.
Her inaugural exhibition explores how disabled artists face inaccessibility within the art world and broader society. Boobis notes, "We're hoping it will set a standard for other galleries in terms of access features." The exhibition includes "easy read" text, audio descriptions, and British Sign Language interpretation, aiming to send a soft message about ideal practices.
Artworks Exposing Barriers and Vulnerabilities
The featured works vividly depict the challenges disabled artists encounter. Christine Sun Kim's charcoal and oil pastel drawings, such as Degrees of Institutional Deaf Rage from 2018, express anger at inadequate access. Accompanying phrases critique issues like "Curators who think it's fair to split my salary fee with interpreters" and "Museums with zero deaf programming."
Jamila Prowse's film Exquisite Corpse (2026) uses the surrealist game to reflect on interdependence in creative practice. Boobis elaborates, "Jamila is talking about not being able to meet the demands of an artist as expected in the art world... and how that's artificial anyway." Similarly, the artist collective Babeworld's film Roll for Initiative employs dice rolling as a metaphor for navigating the art world from neurodivergent and mental health perspectives, highlighting the struggle of completing commissions amid daily challenges.
Bella Milroy's piece, Words Wear Uniforms Too (2019), involves drawing on envelopes from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), reclaiming an object familiar to many disabled people. Milroy reflects, "I think they're a really interesting space to explore the ways in which disability has a particular experience of the public and the private." The envelopes critique the benefits system, touching on contemporary threats like cuts to Personal Independence Payment (Pip) and the vulnerability of sharing personal experiences.
Broader Implications and Hopes for Change
Boobis argues the exhibition's message is twofold: it showcases practical accessibility features and communicates the barriers disabled artists face. She emphasizes, "I think disability is having a moment in the wider art world... but I would hope that isn't just another performance or trend." She calls for follow-on efforts, such as anti-ableism training and support against funding cuts to Pip and Access to Work programmes.
The exhibition also challenges narratives of pity by highlighting intimacy and joy in disabled experiences. Works like Ezra Benus's Relax (Sefirot/Tree of Life) (2024) contribute to this broader conversation. Boobis hopes foregrounding these experiences will foster meaningful change, stating, "It would be good to see proper anti-ableism training in the art world."
I Need to Be More Than a Lesson You Learned runs online at dis_place until 31 January 2027, offering a poignant critique and a call to action for the art world to move beyond performative inclusion.
