What Can a Body Do?

What Can a Body Do? impels us to imagine a generative interplay between disability, creativity and beauty. The exhibition builds upon a rapidly expanding body of work in disability arts and culture as well as in the larger interdisciplinary field of disability studies. It also grows out of and responds to the Haverford College symposium “in/visible” (2011), at which scholars, critics, and artists spoke to the intersection of art, disability, and access.

The exhibition What Can a Body Do?, which opens October 26 and runs through December 16 at Haverford College’s Cantor Fitzgerald Gallery, explores the idea of disability through that very question: What can a disabled body do? What does it mean to inscribe a contemporary work of art with the experiences of disability? How can perceptions of the disabled body be liberated from classifications such as “normal” and “pathological” that so limit our thinking? Curated by Amanda Cachia, the show features the work of nine contemporary artists who invent and reframe disability across a range of media. 

Joseph Grigely, deaf since age 10, creates works that explore the idiosyncrasies and ruptures of language and the dynamics of everyday communication. Three prints from his Songs Without Words, which visually represents sound via images of people singing that have been clipped from The New York Times, are included in this exhibition. 

Deaf performance artist Christine Sun Kim also explores sonic media without the benefit of hearing. At the show’s opening, she will participate in a sound performance, composed of field recordings of sounds from the Haverford College campus. 

Park McArthur, who suffers from a degenerative neuromuscular disease, investigates the ways personal mobility is tied to social and political movements in her temporary sculpture, works on paper and short video pieces. Her video, It’s Sorta Like a Big Hug, is a record of her experience of being cared for by a collective of friends in her New York City neighborhood. 

Alison O’Daniel, a partially deaf artist who combines sculpture, “sound-baths,” painting and film, will give a screening of her new film, Night Sky. The movie, which was made with a cast and crew half of whose members were deaf and half hearing, explores the friendship between two girls, one hearing and one deaf. O’Daniel will also be on hand for a conversation in conjunction with the screening. 

Carmen Papalia creates experiential social practice work, such as Blind Field Shuttle, a non-visual walking tour in which participants explore urban and rural spaces on foot. In addition to leading a local version of his tour as part of this exhibit, Papalia has also produced a soundscape for the gallery of a tour he led in Portland, Oregon, over two days—a non-visual documentation of his non-visual tour. 

Korean-American artist Laura Swanson explores her dwarfism by challenging cultural perceptions of size and scale in her work. What Can A Body Do? includes a new iteration of her installation TOGETHER together, which features paired objects of different size whose proportional juxtaposition prompts questions about how we see differences. 

Irish artist Corban Walker also plays with notions of human scale. Walker is four feet tall and his TV Man, which appears in the exhibit, is a life-size, looped video replica of Walker standing inside the monitor of a flat-screen TV. 

Chun-Shan (Sandie) Yi makes wearable art that addresses bodily and social experience and social stigma, influenced by members of her family (and herself) who were born with variable numbers of fingers and toes. Her Dermis Leather Footwear uses latex, cork, rubber and thread to map the memories of medical and surgical intervention. 

Polish artist Artur Zmijewski explores his long-standing interest in bodily difference through Oko za oko (An Eye for an Eye), a set of three large-format color photographs and a video that depict naked men with amputated limbs, accompanied by able-bodied people, who “lend” their limbs to the amputated men as they stroll, climb stairs or bathe.

These artists offer new representations of the disabled body and, in doing so, expand our definitions of disability itself.

The opening reception for What Can a Body Do? will feature a performance by Mellon Tri-College Artist-in-residence Christine Sun Kim and will take place Friday, October 26, from 5:30 p.m. – 7:30 p.m. in the Gallery.

A number of exhibit-related special events will take place on campus in November:

November 1 at 4:30 p.m. in the Whitehead Campus Center: A poetry reading with poets Michael Northen, Hal Sirowitz, Dan Simpson, Anne Kaier, Brian Teare, and Kathi Wolfe featuring writings from Beauty is a Verb.

November 7 at 8 p.m. in Sharpless Auditiorium: A screening of Night Sky and conversation with filmmaker Alison O’Daniel.

November 14, 4:30 p.m. to 6:00 p.m., starting at the Cantor Fitzgerald Gallery: Blind Field Shuttle, a non-visual walking tour led by Mellon Tri-College Artist-in-residence Carmen Papalia. Space for this immersive, experiential art event will be limited to fifteen participants. Reserve a spot by emailing hcexhibits@gmail.com.

November 16 at 4 p.m. in Sharpless Auditorium:  A gallery talk by Rosemarie Garland-Thomson, Emory University professor of women’s studies and Greater Philadelphia Women’s Studies Consortium scholar-in-residence.

November 16 at 5:30 p.m. in the Cantor Fitzgerald Gallery:. Exhibit curator Amanda Cachia, Greater Philadelphia Women’s Studies Consortium scholar-in-residence Rosemarie Garland-Thomson, and Mellon Tri-College Artist-in-residence Carmen Papalia will host an informal conversation and exhibition viewing.

What Can A Body Do? is made possible with the support of the John B. Hurford ’60 Center for the Arts and Humanities and the Mellon Tri-College Creative Residencies Program. www.haverford.edu/hcah.

Overseen by the John B. Hurford ’60 Center for the Arts and Humanities, the Cantor Fitzgerald Gallery is located in Whitehead Campus Center. Gallery Hours: Monday-Friday 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturdays and Sundays 12 noon to 5 p.m., and Wednesdays until 8 p.m. For more information, contact Matthew Seamus Callinan, campus exhibitions coordinator, at (610) 896-1287 or by emailing mcallina@haverford.edu.

The official website is haverford.edu/whatcanabodydo

Barfi: Commitment Despite Challenges!

Abha Khetarpal, President Cross the Hurdles and member, Enabling Unit, University College of Medical Sciences reviews the movie Barfi:

No wonder Barfi is all set to be sent as India’s official entry for the Best Foreign Language Film nomination for the 85th Academy Awards in February 2013.  Anurag Basu, the director, deserves much applause for making such a sensitive movie.

Though a romantic comedy, the movie deals with all the shades of human psychology and behavior. The plot basically revolves around the story of a man, the protagonist, Barfi, who is deaf and mute by birth. He is shown to be involved with two females at different points of time in his life. Relationship with both the girls, gives him two different perspectives of life.

The first one Shruti Ghosh/Sengupta, is shown to be amused by the antics of Barfi, amazed by the way how he copes with his challenges playfully and ultimately falls for him because of his out and out romantic nature. Like any other teenage girl she is infatuated by his endearing and happy-go-lucky nature.  She is stunned by the way he lives his life to the fullest and even despite of his disabilities he is able to take care of his old father. But this girl herself plays mute when she has to bow down to the pressures of her mother who thinks her daughter’s life would be destroyed by marrying a ‘’disabled man’’. The girl Shruti is shown to be submissive, doubtful and prone to fall for superficial abilities of a Bengali babu, whom she marries. She succumbs to the lures of the so called physical and monetary capabilities of another man. This man has a perfect body but has a disability of lack of emotions!

Though she likes Barfi, she could not gather guts to open her mouth and say even a word. Barfi is shown to be deaf, but this girl, with her actions, proves that she is nothing less than ‘’a dumb’’ human being. She is shown to have a greater disability of character when she says, ‘’Sach puchho to mujhe Jhilmil ke kho jaane ka dukh nahi tha, balki khushi thi ki ab Barfi mera hai’’ (She was not sad that Jhilmil was lost but rather happy that now she would be able to possess Barfi). She is shown to be envious when she says, “Barfi adhura tha, lekin uska pyaar poora tha’’. Now she, after having a nightmarish marriage with her chosen one who is an abled bodied man, realizes that how much able Barfi was and how incomplete her ‘’normal’’ man was! But still she could not develop that sensitivity to understand how much pain she has inflictedon him. When she meets him in Kolkata after six years, she could not even utter a single word. While Barfi is shown to have no complains and grudges against her. He is not at all bitter.

Aaah! The so called ‘’abled’’ world, how selfish you can become!  How easy it is for you to show your cocked up ‘’compulsions’’.

Relationship is a matter of convenience for the this normal group of people. This is skilfully shown by portrayal of the character of Shruti and through the characters of Jhilmil’s parents. They want their daughter because they want money left to her by her grandfather. Otherwise the treatment given to this autistic girl by her own parents is emotionally shocking. The parents are shown to be ashamed of the disability of their daughter. They themselves are not ready to accept. Nor do they believe in including the girl in social gatherings taking place in their own home. And this is not a fictitious revelation. This happens all the time around us. Anurag has just shown courage to bring out such heinous behavioral practices. The society too is shown insensitive which all the more disables a person. The people in the party do not hesitate to laugh at a girl who is enjoying the music, a girl who so innocent, a girl who does not even know the ways of this selfish and cruel world.  By making fun of this autistic girl, Jhilmil, they prove that it is the society that does not let people come out of the stigma of disability. And she shows her anger by yelling at them and crying out, “Chup karo’’( stop laughing).

The so called civilized and sophisticated group of people are shown to be nothing less than beastly creatures.

And the best part happens to be the second half of the movie. I must say it is has the best dialogues ever written, best dialogue delivery ever heard and the best music ever listened to! You must be wondering what I am talking about!

The conversations between the mute Barfi and autistic Jhilmil do not need any language nor are dependent on the ear catching love phrases. They both talk heart to heart.  Their expressions have greater verbosity. The love and relationship which they stand for echoes far away with higher decibels than we human beings can hear. They understand each other by looking into each other’s eyes. Love has no boundaries, no disability, no sham, no manipulations, no strategies…Its purest forms dwell in the hearts of those who believe in it. Barfi has his own ‘’trust test’’. He cuts the branch of the tree. First he stands with his friend under it. Then he stands with Shruti under it who gets scared being hit by it without trusting his love and affection for it. And when he stands with Jhilmil under it, Jhilmil just holds his shirts and  shows her trust. She knows she is safe with him. True love trusts and protects. It is not scared of the burdens, responsibilities and hardships coming its way. True love does not need ceremonies and rituals. When Shruti asks Barfi if they had exchanged rings, he tells her in sign language that when they had exchanged hearts, exchanging rings does not matter!

Barfi and Jhilmil, lived together. They were shown to be with each other till their old age caring and sharing all through their lives. Together they symbolize Commitment Despite Challenges!  They have the biggest ability in them and that is they are able to find happiness in togetherness.

A great movie, great performances by the actors and great music, Barfi deals with the complex mazes, darkest tunnels and brightest spots of human psyche!

Source: Mindful Cogitations (think differently)

I am more than you think you see

I may not see as well as you do

And I may stumble a time or two

But I find delight in refrain

Feel sunshine, hear rain

As well, nay better, than you do.

I may not be formed in a way that you are used to

And my clumsiness may slow down our games too

But you should see what I do

With a paintbrush or two

I could teach you about beauty. And poetry too

 I may not be the brightest in my batch

And my speech may not be up to scratch

Though my thoughts are confined

I am loving and kind

My heart is open, generous and quite a catch.

Your words, I don’t hear them at all

And music can never hold me in thrall

But I can feel all you feel

And see all you reveal

I can’t hear; doesn’t mean I can’t sense it all.

By Dr Upreet Dhaliwal, Professor of Ophthalmology, Medical Humanities Group, UCMS & GTB Hospital, Delhi.

The poem was written by her on occasion of International Day of Persons with Disabilities (IDPwD) 2011 for my group 'Infinite Ability'.

Photo credit:

http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/images/view_photog.php?photogid=2125