Disability Portraiture Project
Do you identify yourself as a person with a disability?
Do you identify as an ally of the disability community?
Would you like to engage in “creative exploration” through the art-making process?
What is the Disability Portraiture Project?
The Disability Portraiture Project, aka DPP, is a collaborative initiative to explore disability identity and agency through creative exploration using art-making directives.
DPP is a program led by the Disability Culture Activism Lab (DCAL), a platform for creative advocacy projects and disability allyship training created between the School of the Art Institute of Chicago’s Masters of Art Therapy and Counseling (MAATC) Department and Access Living’s Arts and Culture Project.
DCAL provides teaching and hands-on learning through disability justice -- a framework that examines disability in connection to other forms of oppressions and identities. Using a peer support and collective care model, MAATC graduate students such as myself will collaborate with disability community members as disability culture-makers for social change.
What will we be doing in our Disability Portraiture Project session?
In our one-hour virtual session, you can choose how you’d like to collaborate to create a portraiture! No prior art-making experience is required! You can model for me to do a portraiture of you, or we can do portraitures of each other. Or, we can collaborate on co-creating a portraiture together.
Then, we can discuss the types of materials that you’d like to use in collaboratively creating the portraitures and in creatively exploring our identities. Materials can be anything from basic pencils or markers to magazine paper to even found objects in the home or outside. We can even try digital sketching.
There is no pressure to decide until the day of our session, and everything is flexible to whatever you are feeling and however you are able to show up that day!
When we are done, you will be able to decide if you’d like me to share the image on social media to help celebrate the disability community!
Wait, is this only for people in Chicago?
This is a virtual engagement, so it is for anyone, anywhere that can participate via Google Meet or Zoom!
How do I sign up?
All you need to do is fill out this Google Sign-Up Form, and if you are in the DC/MD/VA area or wish to specifically request me as your partner, one of our DCAL Interns will connect you with me so that we schedule a session time!
*You will be able to inform us of any accessibility needs in the form!
What should I expect to do during the artmaking session?
Contact Information
Erica Wang
ewang5@saic.edu
+1 (708) 669-6686
Some “terminology” in my own words:
What is “peer support”?
Peer support is somewhat self-explanatory in definition, but I’ll provide some simple points:
“Peers” in that we hold each other in mutual respect and power.
“Support” can mean sharing each others experiences, knowledge, or perspectives with others or simply just being a good listener.
In peer support, we meet each other where we are on that day and at that time.
What is a “collective care model”?
tum placerat. Quisque consectetur, lectus sit amet malesuada luctus, arcu massa vestibulum mi, ac rhoncus ligula nisi a ante. Donec lacinia massa non vulputate consectetur.
What is “creative exploration”?
Fusce consectetur quis libero ac tincidunt. Donec efficitur nulla non quam ullamcorper volutpat. Phasellus semper gravida libero et laoreet. Aenean viverra nulla eget risus tempor consequat. Phasellus auctor nibh nec felis condimentum placerat. Quisque consectetur, lectus sit amet malesuada luctus, arcu massa vestibulum mi, ac rhoncus ligula nisi a ante. Donec lacinia massa non vulputate consectetur.
If you are in the City of Chicago, Access Living is a Center for Independent Living (CIL) that provides:
Advocacy
Independent Living skills
Transition support
Peer support
Information and referral
They are a local, disability consumer‑controlled, cross‑disability, nonresidential, private nonprofit. As a CIL, Access Living believes in dignity, community integration, civil rights, and equal access for all people with disabilities. For more information, please visit www.accessliving.org.
