CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, January 29, 2016 — Presented by Bodies of Work, 3Arts, UIC's Department of Disability and Human Development, and the Disability Resource Center at UIC, EXPOSURE features the work of the 2015 - 2016 3Arts UIC Fellows, Riva Lehrer, Arlene Malinowski, and Barak adé Soleil. This new series offers insight into the practices of artists exploring the intersectionality between disability, art, and culture. Through this series of programs, EXPOSURE intends to continue the dialogue around issues of disability aesthetics in cross-media artistic modes of production.
The first program in the EXPOSURE series will feature a performance of "A Little Bit Not Normal" the one-woman play written and performed by Arlene. The autobiographical solo show "A Little Bit Not Normal" revolves around a secret that had been kept for over six decades and discovered at a family wedding. With her trademark humor, Arlene Malinowski confronts her own state of mind when depression slipped in through her basement window, lit a cigarette and made himself at home. Exploring the shame and secrecy that comes from mental illness because of the stigma that is so attached to it, "A Little Bit Not Normal" is the journey from mental illness to recovery and the story of naming it, claiming it and standing to be counted. This performance will be presented on Friday, February 5, from 2 to 4 p.m., in the Gallery 400 Lecture Room, located at 400 South Peoria.
The second program in the series will feature by the visual artist Riva Lehrer, titled "Beauty in Exile" featuring clips from the film, Self Preservation: The Art of Riva Lehrer by David Mitchell and Sharon Snyder. We live in a world utterly obsessed with physical beauty, yet disability seems to exempt one from being seen as beautiful. This talk is in part a memoir of sexual identity, and in part an examination of the societal wall that separates the disabled from inclusion in corporeal delight. Images will be shown from the history of Lehrer's art, which strives to uncover the glamor inherent in non-normative bodies. This lecture will be presented on Tuesday, February 9, from 2 to 4 p.m., in the Gallery 400 Lecture Room, located at 400 South Peoria.
The final program in the series features a performative lecture titled the "good" body ( Chicago edition ) by multidisciplinary artist Barak adé Soleil. This performative lecture is centered within the intersection of disability and race. Through this multifaceted lens, award-winning artist Barak adé Soleil offers personal insights and poetics excavated from his deep engagement with the profound traditions of the African diaspora, disability culture and their interwoven aesthetic; instigating further dialog surrounding the current social and political tensions present today. As a queer disabled artist of color, he is committed to exposing the nuances of the intersectional body as an inherent reflection of humanity; while questioning the historical contexts in which live art is created and interpreted. This performance will be presented on Friday, February 19, from 2 to 4 p.m., in the Gallery 400 Lecture Room, located at 400 South Peoria.
To RSVP to the "good" body ( Chicago edition ) please contact Sandy Guttman, at sguttm3@uic.edu .
The EXPOSURE series is free and open to the public.
ASL interpretation, real-time captioning, audio description and personal assistants will be provided. Gallery 400 is a wheelchair accessible space. Please refrain from wearing scented products.
This series is supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts to 3Arts. Bodies of Work and UIC's Department of Disability and Human Development are proud to partner with 3Arts to present these unprecedented fellowships and public programs in support of disability culture.
