The Paradox of Hypervisibility: Disability, Creativity and the Politics of the Gaze
Disabled people navigate a daily paradox: we are, as Rosemarie Garland-Thomson describes, 'visually conspicuous while politically and socially erased.' Historically exhibited in freak shows without consent or agency, disabled bodies have long been positioned as spectacle. Yet when disabled artists – dancers, actors, visual artists – claim creative spaces, this imposed visibility transforms into chosen display. The stage, the gallery, the screen become what Ann Cooper Albright calls 'a radical space, an unruly location' where we wrest control of the gaze that has been weaponized against us.
This symposium centres on the politics of exposure: how do disabled artists negotiate, resist, and reclaim the normative gaze? Through their work, disabled artists invite audiences into new modes of perceiving disabled embodiment – not as broken or inspirational, but as a source of creativity, virtuosity, and aesthetic innovation.
Join us to explore what cross-arts conversations uniquely offer when thinking through how art allows us to reconnect with our bodyminds on our own terms.
Locations and timings:
Performance: Thursday 28th May 7pm; Judith Wilson Studio, English Faculty
Symposium: 29th May 2-6pm; SG2, Alison Richard Building
Performance info:
Cirque du Handicap is a show celebrating the power within Disability. It features exaggerated circus acts, theatre, and spoken word poetry to represent the life of Disability activist, writer, and actor Simi Roach. The performance takes us through Simi’s life story to demonstrate how the world tries to diminish the natural power within Disabled people. Audience interaction included.
Runtime: 2 hours (plus 20-minute interval)
Symposium schedule:
Student panel 2-330
Roundtable with disabled artists 4-530
Roundtable info:
Chairs: Meggie Boyle, PhD student and Dr. Jasmine Cooper.
Discussants:
Simi Roach is a Jamaican-British actor, writer, and disability justice activist. Their work explores disability culture, history, and innovative cisabled representation through both written fiction and live performance. Simi has also performed as a spoken word poet, public speaker and educator, and is both an experienced stage and screen actor.
Christopher Samuel is a multi-disciplinary artist whose practice is rooted in identity and disability politics. Often echoing the many facets of his own lived experience as a Black disabled man, his work tells stories, highlighting the often unseen experiences of his day to day life and those of others in similar circumstances.
Laura Jones is Co-Artistic Director of Stopgap Dance Company and has been central to its growth since joining in 2001. A leading advocate for disability, inclusion and equality in dance, she advances the sector through teaching, public speaking and consultancy.
Access info:
Performance: Level access, via lift to basement. Accessible toilet on same floor.
Symposium: Step-free access, on ground floor. Accessible toilet on same floor.
The above links take you to the buildings' AccessAble page.
Unfortunately, it is not within our budget to afford an interpreter, but we will have live captioning. We will also have paper copies of our presentation scripts available.