Doing disability activism through the embodied experiences of creative practice: participating in a community art exhibition

• Published in: Cultural geographies Vol. 31; no. 3; pp. 431 - 438
• Main Authors: Graeme-Cook, Andy, Graeme-Cook, Catherine, Waitt, Gordon, Harada, Theresa
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London, England SAGE Publications 01.07.2024; Sage Publications Ltd
• Subjects: Activism; Community involvement; Community participation; Creativity; Deployment; Emotions; Exhibitions; Geographers; Mobility; People with disabilities; Social norms; creative geographies; vignettes; disability geographies; Australia; politics of emotion
• ISSN: 1474-4740; 1477-0881
• DOI: 10.1177/14744740231201407

Creative practice is frequently being deployed in research by cultural geographers. This article explores one such deployment, centering on a participatory community art exhibition titled ‘Wheelability’. The exhibition was organized by non-disabled geographers for people who use powered mobility devices in the Northern Rivers region of New South Wales, Australia. The article illustrates the distinctive contribution art can make to disability mobility justice. It uses the personal stories and mobile creative expressions of one co-researcher and their carer to explore how engaging in creative activities provides opportunities to understand the emotional aspects of everyday mobility challenges and what emotions can do. Thinking through the emotional geographies of a mobile form of creative practice allows us to illustrate how dominant social norms are confirmed, ruptured, and reconfigured by the co-researcher. In conclusion, we discuss the implications of creative practices for conducting geographical research that promotes justice for individuals with mobility disabilities.