Activity: Reflections
When asked to think of a visual artist who has a disability, I immediately thought of Yayoi Kusama the ‘the princess of polka dots’ (TATE, 2022) as she is often referred to; a Japanese artist who suffers from mental health challenges including hallucinations and anxiety. While viewing videos to learn more about Kusama (Jeffrey, 2017; Muse, 2022) I noticed there was no specific language such as ‘disability’ used, rather they talked about the artist suffering from hallucinations and anxiety which inspired the creation of Kusama’s artworks using lots of dots. They did however talk honestly about how Kusama has chosen to live in a mental health hospital and has done so for the past 20 years. Kusama she spends 9 hours each day outside the facility close by in her studio working before returning to the mental health hospital each night. You can view the videos below:
My experience of disability has been quite varied and is embedded into my everyday lived experiences. Beginning with myself; I have dyslexia which involves different cognitive processing functions that have impacted on my learning experiences; I much prefer to listen to audio than read text and I require more time to unpack questions and process information due to automatically visualising everything and going into deep reflection. I also suffer from anxiety; particularly social anxiety where I can feel uncomfortable in social interactive environments with people who I am not familiar with, along with performance anxiety where I can feel stressed about not doing a good job. In addition to this I have a mild lower lumbar scoliosis which does cause some physical discomfort and the need to carry out daily exercises so that my mobility is not restricted.
I am also a mother to 3 children who have various disabilities, as such I provide support and care suited to their individual needs. My youngest child has been diagnosed with hypermobility, so she is super flexible but has poor core strength and gets fatigued easily, this impacts on her ability to carry out endurance activities. She also suffers from social anxiety and does not cope well emotionally with unfamiliar groups of people and requires a lot of reassuring and support to build resilience. My middle child has autism, ADHD, ODD and general anxiety which all interact with each other and present in a complex manner. She has received a lot of therapy since her diagnoses to support her with; emotional regulation, sensory, behavioural and social challenges, diet, mental health wellbeing and learning difficulties. In recent years, as she matures she has begun to better understand her unique individual abilities and has embraced the diagnoses as part of her identity and advocates more positively for herself.
My eldest child over the past year was diagnosed with severe double curvature scoliosis which has physically impacted her, as she must wear a restrictive body brace 23 hours a day until her spinal surgery is scheduled. I am also a teacher aide and work with many students who are diverse learners and some who have disabilities, I have always enjoyed working in inclusive educational environments and gravitate to students who require additional support. I feel my lived experiences have opened my eyes and to the realities of living and caring for people with disabilities and the importance of advocating for equitable opportunities for people with disabilities. My artistic practice and career outlook has undeniably been influenced by my personal connections to diverse learners and people with disabilities and as such my career path has diverted to this direction. I feel the path of my lived experienced has naturally uncovered my desire to combine creative arts practice together with supporting the wellbeing of people with disabilities and diverse cultures/groups.
References
Jeffrey, B. (2017, 17 March 2017). Need to escape reality? Step into infinity with Yayoi Kusama. PBS NewsHour. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-3k-86WrmHQ
Muse, C. (2022, 24 June 2022). Yayoi Kusama in 8 Minutes: Queen of Polka Dots & Infinity Rooms. Curious Muse.
TATE. (2022). WHO IS YAYOI KUSAMA? TATE. Retrieved 30 November 2022 from https://www.tate.org.uk/kids/explore/who-is/who-yayoi-kusama
