The Disabilty Pride Mural

So, this blog post has been a long time in the making…9 months. I guess that some art making and documenting is harder than others!  This post documents the final day of installation of the Disability Pride mural. It is also a bit of a long post.

We did it!

On a lovely sunny but cool, early Spring day in Footscray in Naarm/Melbourne, on 20 September 2018, heaps of people turned out to take part in and to witness the final day of re-installation of Australia’s first Disability Pride Mural.

It was an amazing day. A huge thanks to the many people who turned up to help cut out, colour in and paste up their own and other people’s artworks. And thanks to all the people who turned out to watch, listen and learn. Maybe 200 people attended in all.

 About 50 peoples’ voices are represented on this wall. People of all different disabilities, telling stories about their lives, and highlighting the wide cultural diversity that is Disabled Culture.

This mural is 16 metres wide by approximately 7 metres high. That is pretty big!! The actual installation of this work took place over a week. 

On day 1 we used a scissors lift to install the large lettered artworks that spell out Disability Pride, as well as other artworks high up on the wall. 

We had the weekend to rest, and then Day 2 we installed the letters of Disabled Culture along the bottom and some other larger pieces of art. 

Then another 2 days to catch our breath, before the final day of our mass paste up party!

And after a beautiful and wild day of conversations and mural art making, the mural was formally launched at 3pm. 

Jane Rosengrave, a proud Indigenous woman and legendary disability self-advocate, gave us an Acknowledgment of Country.

We heard a fantastic speech from the great Caroline Bowditch, recently returned to Australia to head up Arts Access Victoria, after a decade of working in the disability arts in UK.

And I spoke some emotional words! 

We also heard some songs from Steph Yianakelis on her ukulele. 

And there was food and drink. And lots of laughter and tears. And lots of photographs and selfies with the mural.

After the murals very unfortunate destruction late last year, it has been a very tough emotional 9 months to get the mural reinstalled. But we did it.

There are so many people to thank…

I especially want to thank all those disabled people for their courage in joining with me, back in November 2017, to install the first Disability Pride mural. There is a lot of stigma around disability, and this stigma varies depending on disability type. And if our disability is invisible (as the majority are) we may often choose not to disclose. But since total secrecy of disability is usually not possible, most of us know that disclosure can lead to ableism and discrimination. So, it is a brave thing to disclose in public space, to stand up and proudly proclaim part of your identity. Given that Australia has never before had a Disability Pride mural, it was hard to predict what would happen. So I want to honour your brave stand, almost into the unknown, that you all took.

I also want to thank all the people who contributed artwork, especially those who made artwork specifically for this mural.

Adam Knapper, Ali Pain, Amber Whitlow, Annabelle Leve, Ann Hutchinson, Barbara Smith, Brent Alford, Brainstrength, Carly Findlay, Charlie Park, Chelsea Michelle, Christian Astorian, Colin Jones, Esther Tuddenham, Eva Sifis, Fiona Prendergast, Fox Smoulder, Fran Lee, Guler Shaw, Hannah Morphy Walsh, Heidi Everett, Helen Caliguri, Interact Arts, Jane Rosengrave, Janet Curtain, Jax Jacki Brown, Jeff Ward, Jenny Hickinbotham, Jessica Ibacache, Judy Wolff, Kath Duncan, Kira Young, Kelvin Lim, Marina Perkovich, Megan Hunter, Naomi Chainey, Peta Ferguson, Peter Davis, Prue Stevenson, Quippings Troupe, Raphael Kaleb, Reinforce, Rich McLean, Ross Cottee, Ross de Vent, Steph Yianakelis, Steven Tran, Trudy Ryall, Troy Huggins, Warren Loorham, Anonymous

I especially thank Hannah Morphy Walsh and Raphael Kaleb, for their very hard and dedicated work supporting the installation in the final week, and for keeping the vision of Disability Pride alive throughout the year. Special thanks also to Charlie Park. 

Thanks to Anna Madden for the awesome photos.

Thanks to Naomi Chainey for filming and documenting this Mural as it took place. Stay tuned for more about this…

Thanks to Arts Access Victoria, for project support and funding Auslan Interpreters. Special thanks to Fiona Cook. Thanks to Will McRostie for Audio Description.

Thanks to Telstra, especially Marcus Swinburne, for letting us use their great building for our mural. And for turning up on the day to support our work and providing shade and food.

 Thanks to Melbourne Fringe Festival and particularly Carly Findlay for support.

Thanks to Christie (for facilitating the food, loan of the scaffolding and emotional support), 

Thanks to Liz (for being the best ally), 

Thanks to Jacqui Ward and co, for great logistical support on the day (as well as great mentorship over many years!)

Thanks to SARU, the Self Advocacy Resource Unit, for the long loan of the badge maker, so that I could make and distribute hundreds of Disability Pride badges throughout the year. 

Thanks to Jax Jackie Brown and Stella Young and so many others for your education about Disability Pride. And the late Michael Fleming for introducing me to Mad Pride, long before that.

Thanks to Footscray Community Arts Centre, for the loan of the tables, chairs, and brushes. FCAC also gets a special mention for providing me with an Artist Residency in 2017, which supported the development of my Disability Pride arts practice.

Thanks to Maribyrnong City Council for providing funding.

I am sure that there are many other people that I should thank, so my biggest apologies if I have missed you. (Please let me know too.)

I finally want to acknowledge all the disability activists and self-advocates who have come before us and who have been fighting for Disability Rights for many generations. Much of our history is unknown and undocumented, but I do know that this mural is built on years of knowledge, hard work and courage. 

  

   

This mural is a paste up. That means it is made of paper, pasted up with a wheat paste glue. As a result, it is an ephemeral work, meaning that with time it will disintegrate. This might sound sad, but one advantage, is the possibility that we get to do it again. And that more disabled voices can be brought out into the open. Disability Pride is also something that we need to practice. As the late great US disability activist, Laura Hershey wrote, You get proud by practicing. Disability Pride is also a little like a journey and our individual relationship with it changes over time. And until we live in a world where we all have access, regardless of our impairments, race, gender and sexual orientation, we will always need to practice Disability Pride.

My main hope for creating this wall, was to create a public space for disabled people to feel belonging, to raise awareness of and kick start a Disability Pride movement in Australia, as well as build the spirit of the Disabled community and the idea of a unique Disabled culture. 

The Mural's unfortunate demise in 2017, after only a week in place, threw the issue into the news and certainly raised its profile. They say that ‘all publicity is good publicity’. However, the struggle to reinstall the mural, has taken a personal toll on myself. 

The mural destruction is also symbolic of the way that disability is viewed in this country - as not of value. It further points to the ways in which the medical model of disability is so deeply entrenched, that very idea of Disability Pride is difficult to grasp. The destruction and the resulting drama also created further challenges to reinstall this artwork in a way that honoured our stories and kept a culturally safe space. The fact that we did indeed return to this site and recreate a mural, bigger and better than before, is extraordinary.

There was some great media coverage of the Mural that was really respectful of Disabled culture. You can listen to two interviews here. A big shout out to Independent Media everywhere.

Women on the Line, broadcast on 3CR and nationally, via the Community Radio Network. Thanks Amy McMurtrie for the interview.

Fringe 2018 podcast series, episode 2, where I speak alongside Disabled artists, Rachel Edmonds, Claire Barnier and Leisa Prowd about Disability identity.

Finally, congratulations everyone, who joined me on this journey. May there be many more expressions of Disability Pride into the future.