TALLINN.- The international exhibition of contemporary art, “Disarming Language: Disability, Communication, Rupture” opened at
Tallinn Art Hall on 14 December. Works by 13 artists have been selected by curators Christine Sun Kim and Niels Van Tomme. The exhibition has been produced in cooperation with the Office of the Chancellor of Justice and the ARGOS Centre for Art and Media in Brussels.
The “Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities” (2006) is an international human rights treaty of the United Nations aiming to protect the rights of people with disabilities through language and law. Building upon the treaty, "Disarming Language: Disability, Communication, Rupture" looks at ways in which conceptions of language and communication are informed and enhanced by disability. In bringing together artists, graphic designers, writers, and activists, it establishes a number of critical vantage points that imagine disability beyond a stigmatised “condition”. Its purpose lies in imagining new conceptual and experiential frameworks that use language and communication in innovative ways – through, with, and beyond disability – advancing a radically more inclusive point of view past limiting ableist perspectives and possibilities.
The curators considered it important to break down the biases surrounding disability and have therefore selected works by disabled artists that have been exhibited at galleries internationally. “By exploring the wide-ranging practices of disabled artists, we ended up seeing a common thread of artists and artworks unpacking ideas relating to language and communication. The ways in which language frames disability both positively, as a way to connect and make visible, and negatively, by exclusion and erasure, are manifold,” explains Kim and Van Tomme.
“Art is free, says the Constitution. Yet, unfortunately not all have access to art. But how can we perceive Ants Laikmaa’s painting “View from Capri”, Arvo Pärt’s tintinnabuli music, or some message hidden in a sculpture, an embroidery or video art if the respective senses do not work? How can we access an exhibition when there is only a narrow staircase leading to it and your only means of mobility is a wheelchair? It is touching that this exhibition seeks to – and will hopefully also manage to – overcome quite a few of the obstacles considered insurmountable. Welcome to our exhibition!” Chancellor of Justice Ülle Madise added.
The only Estonian artist participating in the exhibition is the renowned textile artist Erika Tammpere. Andrea Crespo (USA) makes video and audio installations as well as print art to deal with complex cultural and historical issues surrounding psychological and physical differences. Alison O’Daniel (USA) is a visual artist and filmmaker who uses sound, sculpture, installation, and performance in her work. Shannon Finnegan (USA) is a multidisciplinary artist whose work explores the culture surrounding disability. Jeffrey Mansfield (USA) presents a photo project on the architecture of schools for the deaf. Carmen Papalia (USA) uses performance art to resist ableist pressures. Heather Kai Smith (USA) works with visual archival materials on protest, collectivity and conscious community building. Sunaura Taylor (USA) is an artist and writer who received the American Book Award for her book “Beasts of Burden: Animal and Disability Liberation” in 2018. The Canaries, a US artist group, is also a network of women with autoimmune or other chronic diseases and people that do not follow binary gender identities. Jesse Darling (UK) has made sculptures, installations, videos, drawings and also performances. Danish textile artist Gudrun Hasle conveys dyslexic messages with her embroidery.
