This is My Story
I am born - As a disabled artist I am inspired by early memories of 1970’s seaside variety shows, where my family performed in theatres, circuses and seaside spaces around the world and in Scarborough (my birth place). As a disabled child I was sent away to a residential ‘Special” school to board from the age of 4 to 16 in the Yorkshire Dales. This was often the case for disabled children of this era. I believe this upbringing to be the foundation for my life’s work as a disabled artist, a collaborator and an inclusive practitioner with a cultural perspective of a lived experience embedded in the social model of disability.
My practice therefore reflects this cultural perspective through themes of disability, social engagement, the world around us, cultural identity, self identity, lived experience and self portraiture.
I am now an acclaimed award-winning disabled artist working within contemporary portraiture and collaborative arts practice. My expertise and leadership as a professional disabled artist is well known in the sector and is often sought after.
I work as a freelance commissioned artist, consultant, trainer, mentor and artistic director with Sense. My work includes visioning concepts and projects, consultancy and advisory work on panels, curating and exhibiting work, publishing projects in hybrid spaces and developing work nationally and internationally with a variety of arts organisations, studios and individuals.
My work has been featured across the world including Venice, Australia, USA, Japan, National Portrait Gallery, Tate Modern and Tate Liverpool amongst many others.
One of my most recognised projects that people remember has been Portraits Untold. Funded by Arts Council England this was a partnership project with National Portrait Gallery, Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery and the National Trust, exploring the diversity of humanity through portraying well known diverse people, Dame Evelyn Glennie, David Hoyle, Neil Baldwin and John Akomfrah who have achieved greatness in their field of the arts. This project celebrated inclusive practice on a large scale, including reaching participating audiences online, in real life and internationally through live portrait events in the partnership venues. This project resulted in additional residencies and commissions with Apple.com, BBC4, the National Trust and Hull City of Culture.
I am also a key figure in NDACA (National Disability Arts Collection and Archive) where over 30 of my portraits of disabled cultural leaders (from my Who’s Who and Revealing Culture HeadOn collections) are used to educate and inspire others. My work is recognised for its inclusive, accessible and collaborative approach to disability portraiture. These portraits have been exhibited across the UK and most recently in Venice.
My career also includes supporting others to reach their artistic goals. I am a specialist in supporting disabled/learning disabled/neurodivergent/non verbal artists to develop their practice, in inclusive settings within high profile spaces.
I set up ArtStudio01, a supported studio in Shrewsbury. This supported over 11 learning disabled artists and their creative care givers living across Shropshire in developing their creative and professional practice. A respected inclusive artists community, it was self funded until I received Arts Council England funding to support the development of this studio as an inclusive progressive studio collective. I did this through research and development into models of best practice across England including Action Space, Project Artworks, Barrington Farm, Figment Arts, Project Ability and Kaarisilta Finland, exploring the models of contemporary learning disability arts practice. This research influenced the continuation of the collaborative approach and concluded with a sharing event where artists and studios came together to develop future collaborations.
During the pandemic I went on to develop ArtStudio01 as an online studio space with a multi camera setup. We received funding from Unlimited through Paul Hamlyn Foundation to buy iPads for each artist. This has proven hugely beneficial to all the artists who still use their iPads today to create their work, join other artists groups online and to share their art on social platforms and with each other.
I have also mentored several disabled/learning-disabled/neurodivergent artists in their professional arts practice, resulting in international working with the Finnish Institute and Finland’s only learning disability artist led social enterprise, Pertin Valinta.
I am also often called upon to give talks about my work as an artist and cultural leader to inspire others, most recently was at the opening of Crip Arte Spazio (DAM-Disability Art Movement in Venice) exhibition at the Attenborough Centre. I was also a juror of the British Glass Biennial and a co curator on the online Outsider International Exhibition.
