IN Disability Awareness Exhibition

One of the biggest issues for people with disability in Western Australia is societal attitudes. 

Attitudes around who we are, where we belong, why we shouldn’t be employed or included.

I am a visual artist with a disability and am creating a body of work called ‘In’ – it is an exhibition which includes ten portraits of Western Australians with disability and includes a part of their story in short vignettes.  The viewer is left to arrive at their own conclusion about who owns which story and consequently to decipher their own conclusions and values.

The portraits are of people who are autistic or blind; people who have Down Syndrome or other types of disability.  The stories are startling - a person who lived in three group homes in three years, a person who earns under six dollars an hour in a sheltered workshop - it is difficult to connect the powerful images of musicians, academics, sportspersons and artists with the barriers that they encounter in daily life.

I need your help to make 'In' come to life.  It will cost $5,000 to print the works in a special high definition printing process on aluminium,  purchase framing and assistance to hang the show and to hold a grand opening on the 1st of December, 2014.

My goal is to raise these funds in two weeks, by mid-November - can you help?  The exhibition will be held at the Niche, Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital, with the kind assistance of the Epilepsy Association of WA.

It is International Day of People with a Disability on December 3.  Help me make sure Australians with disability are 'in' rather than shut out.