“Differently abled”
acrylic on collage of recycled materials on unmounted canvas panel
72”x36”
Currently NFS
A young girl in a wheelchair seems ready to swim. She already has her bathing cap and swimming goggles on. Her wheelchair is placed at the very edge of the water, on an access ramp which makes her independent to enter and exit. Once immersed, the water allows her to free herself from the rules of gravity. On her bathing suit we see a detail of Matisse's work The swimming pool. Diagnosed with colon cancer in 1941, Matisse underwent surgery that made him dependent on a wheelchair and forced him to often remain bedridden. Doctors gave him six months to live, but he continued to work for another fourteen years. Illness made his work as an artist difficult, painting and sculpting became too tiring. He decided to turn to a new type of medium: "cut-out gouaches". This technique facilitated his work. As it was less physical, it allowed him to remain seated or lying down while working. He created collages of cut-out paper pre-painted with gouache by his assistants, which they placed and stuck where he chose. Matisse called the last fourteen years of his life his second life and considered his works as gardens he could enjoy despite his reduced mobility. The swimming pool is the only cut-out piece composed for a specific room, the artist's dining room in his apartment in Nice, France, much like a personal pool at home, a space of dream and freedom.
It’s estimated that 15% of people across the globe have a disability. There are 300 million women with physical and mental disabilities worldwide. They account for 10% of all women globally. Women and girls with disabilities experience a double discrimination: firstly as women or girls they suffer the same discriminations as any other women or girls, secondly because of their handicaps, they are more fragile and cannot defend themselves when facing predatory behaviors. Women with disabilities regularly have their sexual and reproductive rights infringed. They are subjected to coercive sterilization, coerced abortion and information suppression about reproductive health. Women with disabilities have a significantly lower chance of obtaining a pelvic exam than women without impairments. Women and girls with disabilities are frequently more vulnerable to violence, abuse, neglect, negligent treatment, mistreatment, and exploitation both inside and beyond the home. The job market is not set up to accommodate disabled women, and there are not enough laws in place to prevent and punish harassment, including sexual harassment and harassment based on disability. They are also twice as unlikely to get a job as disabled men are. Women’s disability benefits are oftentimes lower than for men because they are based on job and earning histories.
Bathing suit: Henri Matisse, The Swimming Pool, 1952 (details)