Seeking to reframe the way people see disability and illness, a new exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego in La Jolla will showcase new views on those concepts as seen through the decades.
The exhibit, dubbed “For Dear Life: Art, Medicine and Disability,” will begin Thursday, Sept. 19, at 700 Prospect St. and will show works from the 1960s up to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“In the past decade, the art world has witnessed an explosion of artistic activity surrounding issues of illness, disability, caregiving and the vulnerability of the human body,” according to MCASD. “Set in motion by the emergence of movements for disability justice, this activity accelerated with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet since the 1960s, artists have … come to locate illness and disability not in individual bodies but as part of a web of interconnected societal, environmental and historical conditions.”
The exhibit is intended to present the idea that disability and illness could be viewed through the lens of community and resistance, said senior curator Jill Dawsey.
This is an example of work that will be shown in “For Dear Life: Art, Medicine and Disability” at the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego in La Jolla. (Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego)
“We’re using a broad definition of disability that is more affinity-based than anything. All of us will experience illness and disability at some point. So there is a focus on vulnerability, bodily and mentally, as an impetus for change,” she said. “For artists, it spurs changes in how they work, their medium, their techniques and their scale. It prompts them to adapt and improvise and reorient themselves to the world. So when you think about it, disability and illness go from having a dark implication to something that helps us see the world in new ways.”
Given the number of artists participating in the exhibit in a variety of media, Dawsey said it is “really ambitious in scope,” with different artistic styles, political eras and issues.
For example, in the 1960s and ’70s, there was a focus on women’s issues and body autonomy. The 1980s had overlapping crises of cancer, AIDS and substance abuse.
“The artists have reframed illness, and suddenly disability becomes a point of resistance to the status quo of contemporary life,” Dawsey said. “We’re all on this treadmill forging ahead at this crazy pace. So the artists might say disability doesn’t reside in the individual but the larger culture that refuses to accommodate a range of needs. Disability resists the pace and the economics of contemporary life.”
“When you view it in those terms,” there is a sense of vibrancy and exuberance, she added. “What people are going to be surprised by is how colorful and playful the work is. There are more challenging works decade by decade, and some works are mournful and look at the generation that was lost. But on the West Coast, there were artists that met that crisis with macabre humor, and there is a tenacity that is evident in all these works.”
For the artists, Dawsey said, “the act of making art is a way to survive. It’s also a way for audiences to survive. Art becomes the thing that establishes community and relationships and allows us to go on living together.”
Takeaways for viewers include “a greater continuity of experiences,” she said.
“The importance of community and support systems is key,” Dawsey said. “That’s one thing the artists are talking about. Many of these artists were in community with one another at some point — they worked together, they worked with friends that might have been [sick] and helped them finish their work.
“Art is a relational practice, and the show is about friendships and relations and a support network. The younger generation of artists note that interconnectedness is crucial to life. … We all rely on others. Dependency can be a good thing.”
To achieve the goal of accessibility for people with different abilities, some pieces are being hung lower than they normally would be and others that can be seen from a distance are being hung higher.
The exhibition is part of a larger regionwide arts initiative presented by the Getty Foundation known as “PST Art: Art & Science Collide.”
More than 50 cultural, educational and scientific institutions throughout Southern California are participating in the initiative, including the La Jolla Historical Society and UC San Diego’s Mandeville Art Gallery, which are presenting parts of the exhibit “Helen and Newton Harrison: California Work.”
The Museum of Contemporary Art will host “For Dear Life: Art, Medicine and Disability” through Sunday, Feb. 2. For more information, visit mcasd.org/exhibitions/for-dear-life-art-medicine-and-disability. ♦
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Publish date : 2024-09-08 04:00:00
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