Face On
“The excitement of disability arts is both social and aesthetic. It lies in the breaking of age-old silences, the incarnation of suppressed visions, the liberation of thoughts and feelings that have been too long imprisoned. But it comes also from the capacity of artists with disabilities to ask old questions from new perspectives. Each has to ask, in a profound but utterly personal way, what it is to be human, what it is to make art. Face On captures this excitement. It is a milestone for the disability arts movement in Ireland, a crucial point of reference in a shifting landscape. But it is also a richly enjoyable journey across that terrain…..”
Fintan O’Toole, Critic, Irish Times columnist & cultural commentator
‘FACE ON: Disability Arts from Ireland and Beyond’ was published by ADI in 2007 in partnership with CREATE, the national development agency for collaborative arts. This international publication explores Disability and Deaf arts and culture in an Irish context.
Featuring 24 contributions from key thinkers and artists from the disciplines of visual art, dance, theatre, literature, film and comedy, this thought provoking collection contained compelling, engaging, honest and often humorous accounts of artists’ personal experiences of disability in terms of both their lives as artists and their identities. Pioneers and veterans of Disability Arts practice meet emerging disability artists and innovators in form; shared experience and difference is acknowledged, whilst speculation, advice and hopes were offered up for the future.
