Another artist to use the narrative technique of photographic autopathography is Hannah Wilke. Whereas Spence’s work was concerned with reclaiming her body from the medical profession, Wilke’s photographs question conventional representations of female beauty in art and mass media. Continue reading “Hannah Wilke”
Category: Disability Research
Matuschka
In a similar way, artist Joanne Matuschka uses her body to raise awareness about the issue of breast cancer, as well as the stark reality of medical intervention.
“I remember looking in the mirror and saying, ‘I have such a beautiful body, something bad is going to happen here‘” (quoted in Kirkpatrick, 1998). Continue reading “Matuschka”
Bob Flanagan, Supermasochist
“In a bizarre alternative universe kind of way I sort of resemble Superman. . . . [D]espite my skinny physique and frail sensitivities, I possess certain powers and abilities far beyond those of so-called normal human beings. I was born with a genetic illness that I was supposed to succumb to at two, then ten, then twenty, and so on. But I didn’t. And, in a never-ending battle not just to survive but to subdue my stubborn disease, I’ve learned to fight sickness with sickness.” (Bob Flanagan, quoted in Kilpatrick 1998) Continue reading “Bob Flanagan, Supermasochist”
Tobin Siebers, My Withered Limb
This article is one of the most touching and brave explorations of disability I have read. Kudos to Siebers for having the courage to reveal himself in such an explicit way. Siebers suffered from the effects of polio as a child, resulting in a withered right leg. Continue reading “Tobin Siebers, My Withered Limb”
Marie Chouinard, “bODY_rEMIX / gOLDBERG_vARIATIONS”
I found this powerful performance through a link from a disability website. The work was originally created in 2005 for the Venice Biennale’s International Festival of Contemporary Dance. It is a mixture of dance and performance art, exploring the physicality of disability. Continue reading “Marie Chouinard, “bODY_rEMIX / gOLDBERG_vARIATIONS””
Fred Wiseman, Titicut Follies
“Titicut Follies occupies a unique position in American film history: it is the only American film whose use has court-imposed restrictions for reasons other than obscenity or national security.” (Anderson & Benson 1991, p 4) Continue reading “Fred Wiseman, Titicut Follies”
The Politics of Asking and the Myth of Informed Consent, Carolyn Anderson & Thomas W. Benson
Taken from Documentary Dilemmas: Frederick Wiseman’s Titicut Follies, 1991 Southern Illinois University Press. Fortunately, a large part of the chapter of this book that most interested me was available on Google books. Continue reading “The Politics of Asking and the Myth of Informed Consent, Carolyn Anderson & Thomas W. Benson”
The Conundrum of Competing Rights, Carolyn Anderson
This is Anderson’s earliest article about the Follies case, written for the Journal of University Film Association, and in which she outlines the basic problem of competing first and fourth amendment rights (freedom of speech and privacy respectively), and cites this as a common conundrum that faces documentary filmmakers, but one that usually remains outside the courts. Continue reading “The Conundrum of Competing Rights, Carolyn Anderson”
The Right of Privacy and Freedom of the Press, Thomas I. Emerson
However, as pointed out in this article for the Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review, the first and fourth amendments are only really in conflict under the circumstances of privacy tort (when there is an illegal breach of privacy by the press, such as trespass) or in cases where privacy trumps the right to public knowledge (such as the identity of rape victims). Continue reading “The Right of Privacy and Freedom of the Press, Thomas I. Emerson”
Informed Consent: Must or Myth? by Willemien Sanders
Found this article online when I was researching informed consent issues that came up after watching and reading about Titicut Follies and the ensuing court cases. Continue reading “Informed Consent: Must or Myth? by Willemien Sanders”
Carl Whetham photography 