Art | Disability | Climate Change

Art | Disability | Climate Change

An afternoon webinar exploring disability narratives in a changing climate through the work of Irish artists.

About this disabiliy events

An afternoon handicap events webinar exploring disability narratives in a changing climate through the work of Irish artists

Art, lived experience of disability, climate change, and their intersections will be explored by leading Irish and international arts professionals in an afternoon of free online panel discussions on Thursday 20th July.

Climate change disproportionately affects disabled people through ways such as eco-ableism, lack of accessible information, physical vulnerabilities in extreme weather events and inaccessible climate policies, to name a few.

However, people with lived experience of disability have expert skill sets which are needed to address the climate emergency, such as resilience, resourcefulness, understanding the value of community care and specialist knowledge of navigating a world of barriers and obstacles. Yet disabled people are routinely and systematically not considered in climate action projects, policies, and discussions.

Hosted by AlanJames Burns with contributions from Dr Sarah Bell, Jennifer Cunningham, Cecilia Bullo, Peter Kearns, Chandrika Narayanan-Mohan, Tia Vellani, Suzanne Walsh, Julia Watts Belser and Marek Wolynski.

Accessibility:

Irish Sign Language interpreters from Bridge Interpreting Limited and live captioning from 1-2-1 Captioning will be available.

Each session will last for 40-50 minutes with breaks between sessions.

An easy read / social story is available through https://www.alanjamesburns.com/art-disability-climate-change/

Following the webinar recordings of the discussions will be made available online at www.alanjamesburns.com. Please note, as we will be recording these sessions only contributor cameras will be on.

FURTHER INFORMATION

If you have any questions please email: karinacharles11@gmail.com

MEDIA INFORMATION

For media information please contact Stephanie Dickenson Tel: 087 993 7650 stephaniedickenson12@gmail.com

Supported by:

Art | Disability | Climate Change webinar is funded and supported by Arts Council of Ireland Touring Award, Galway County Arts Office, Cavan Arts Office and SFI Insight Research Centre at DCU.

Description of Panel Discussions:

The afternoon’s first session discusses the forthcoming national tour and artwork by AlanJames Burns Augmented Body, Altered Mind. An interactive exhibition weaving a brain-computer interface with an audiovisual environment inviting audiences to visualise the way they think and how their brains work. The artwork celebrates neurodiversity, and how human brains have evolved to process information in ways that are specialised and divergent from each other that encourages collective and creative problem-solving. Nowhere is creative thinking more needed than the environmental crisis.

The second session discusses art as a catalyst for inclusive climate action and a just transition by looking at the environmental advocacy work by artists and organisations who are addressing the disproportionate impact and accessibility challenges faced by disabled individuals during the climate emergency.

The final session explores how disabled Irish artists raise awareness, challenge societal perceptions, and provoke meaningful discussions about the experiences of disabled individuals in the context of climate change and environmental degradation.

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BIOGRAPHIES

AlanJames Burns, webinar organiser, is a neurodivergent, environmental artist and curator producing interactive, socially engaged and site-specific exhibitions. The focal points of their artistic practice are disability, climate change and the human mind. AlanJames Burns works highly collaboratively with other visual artists, writers, musicians, filmmakers and scientists through their projects. Burns holds a Masters in Visual Arts Practice from the Institute of Art, Design & Technology, Dun Laoghaire and a Bachelor of Arts in Fine Art from Dublin Institute of Technology.

Contributors to the afternoon include:

Dr Sarah Bell, is a senior lecturer at the University of Exeter, who has just commenced a 5-year project exploring climate change, policy and disability across three case study cities, Dublin, Bristol and Glasgow. IncluADAPT explores and demonstrates as-yet overlooked opportunities to foreground disability rights and knowledges in climate adaptation scholarship, policy and practice.

Cecilia Bullo, practice is research-based and informed by historical, mythological, psychoanalytic and feminist theories, which create a vital conceptual framework for her physical work. Bullo’s recent series of works explores the artist’s concerns around gender violence and ecofeminism. She has studied sculpture at IADT; Brera Fine Art Academy, Milan; the Academy of Fine Art, Athens and in 2009 she received her MFA from the National College of Art & Design (NCAD), Dublin .

Jennifer Cunningham is a visual artist who has won many awards and her work is in collections all over the world. She frequently works with schools and colleges and has delivered many Creative Engagement and Artist in the Schools schemes at both primary and secondary level.

Peter Kearns, an Irish theatre artist and lecturer working with the Independent Living Movement. In March Kearns delivered an address to the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Disability Matters focused on the climate crisis and disability.

Chandrika Narayanan-Mohan is a writer and performer whose work has been published by Dedalus Press, Lifeboat Press, Poetry Ireland, Banshee, and Stinging Fly amongst others. Chandrika has collaborated with AlanJames Burns and Dylan Coburn Gray on Augmented Body, Altered Mind and is currently collaborating with Burns on The Waking Walls | Caoineadh Dúlra an upcoming project exploring climate grief.

Dr Tia Vellani, visual artist, multi-instrumental musician, and former research scientist who has spoken internationally about the overlaps between art and science

Professor Julia Watts Belser, a rabbi, scholar, and spiritual teacher who works at the intersections of disability studies, queer feminist Jewish ethics, and environmental justice. She directs Disability and Climate Change: A Public Archive Project.

Suzanne Walsh, artist and writer with an interest in non-human worlds, from animals to the esoteric, and in creating rifts through which new meanings and realities can emerge.

Marek Wolynski, a London-based curator and producer who specialises in large-scale projects and cross-sector partnerships at the intersection of art, nature, science, and technology.

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