As part of Bodies of Work: Festival of Disability Arts and Culture, the Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts presents NoBody's Perfect on Wednesday, May 22 at 6 pm in the Performance Hall.
The event is free and open to the public. Following the 90 min documentary, UIC doctoral candidate Kate Caldwell will moderate a discussion with panelists including photographer Robert Coombs, UChicago doctoral candidate Annie Hefferman, and Riva Lehrer, co-programming chair for the Bodies of Work Festival.
"Inspired by the first Bodies of Work Festival in 2006, I wanted to create a program that uses art and culture to advance public attitudes towards disability and, in true UChicago fashion, encourages discussion and understanding through carefully chosen panelists that would provide a range of perspectives across disciplines," said Leigh Fagin, Assistant Director of Collaborative Programming of the Logan Center.
NoBody's Perfect, winner of the 2009 German Film Award for Best Documentary, follows Director Niko von Glasgow as he searches for eleven people who, like him, were born with a disability due to the side effects of Thalidomide and who are willing to pose nude for a book of photos. The documentary explores the specific problems these twelve people faced and their candid reactions towards the photography project. The final results of the photo shoot give the models entirely new perspectives on themselves.
This film contains some nudity and may not be appropriate for all ages.
For audience members who require assistance, please email logancenter@uchicago.edu or call Nicole Foti at 773.702.4446.
PANELIST BIOS
Riva Lehrer has exhibited in museums and galleries across the country. Her work focuses on issues of physical identity and the socially challenged body. Her work with graphic novelist Alison Bechdel is the subject of a 2012 documentary, "The Paper Mirror", by Charissa King-O'Brien, and is currently being shown in film festivals around the world. Ms. Lehrer's writing and visual art are included in the new anthology, "Sex and Disability", Duke University Press. Riva Lehrer is currently adjunct professor at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, visiting artist in Medical Humanities at Northwestern University, and co-chair for programming for the Chicago Bodies of Work Festival set for 2013.
Robert Andy Coombs (Kendall College of Art and Design), a student pursuing a BFA in photography at KCAD, grew up in the small town of Norway in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. Coombs sustained a spinal cord injury in April 2009 from a trampoline accident at his gymnastics gym. He is now thriving and advocating through his photography.
Annie Heffernan (University of Chicago) holds a Master's in the Social Sciences from the University of Chicago and a Bachelor's in Social Studies from Harvard College. She will be beginning her doctorate in Political Science at the University of Chicago this fall. She is primarily interested in the intersection of contemporary political thought, feminist theory, and disability theory. Her current work examines how the political thought of Hannah Arendt might be brought to bear on recent developments in disability theory.
Kate Caldwell (University of Illinois at Chicago) is a bisexual advocate and doctoral candidate in Disability Studies at UIC. Her work has contributed to the inclusion of disability in The Bisexuality Report and the inclusion of bisexuality in the Global Disability Rights Library. Her interests in disability and sexuality center around issues of stigma and prejudice; compulsory passing and the performance of identity; and citizenship.
This program is presented as part of Bodies of Work: Festival of Disability Arts and Culture, May 15-25, 2013 in Chicago. This series of events, the only festival of its kind in the Midwest, will explore and celebrate the contributions of artists with disabilities, the contemporary contexts of disabled lives, and works that illuminate disability experiences. Bodies of Work is a dynamic, international, 11-day festival featuring professional visual, performing and literary artists who explore disability issues through their work. Including theater, dance, literature, poetry, film, visual art, sound performance and panel discussions, the festival promises to challenge, provoke and energize. For more information, visit www.bodiesofworkchicago.org or www.facebook.com/BodiesOfWork.
