Key details
Date
- 28 November 2022
Read time
- 2 minutes
This Disability History Month, we’re highlighting some of the great students and alumni from in the RCA community who have been using their artistic practices to explore their personal experiences, and the experiences of others, as disabled people.
Key details
Date
- 28 November 2022
Read time
- 2 minutes
Kimberley Burrows (MA Painting)
Once passionate about pursuing a career in illustration, the direction of Kimberley Burrows’ life and artwork shifted when she lost her sight in 2018. Kimberley worked through the many obstacles that faced her, and rediscovered her artistic voice when she turned to expressionist painting.
“To me, painting is a powerful and proficient cognitive experience, giving me the space to work through the traumatic experience of going blind. The creative process is a method of direct communication between my fractured heart and mind.”
Ahead of starting her studies at the RCA earlier this year, Kimberley’s colourful abstract works caught the eye of clothing company Warehouse, who collaborated with Kimberley for an exclusive collection. She has also worked with the Wellcome Collection for their Writing Myself series, for which she painted responses to written pieces about disabled experiences by writer Caroline Butterwick.
Kimberley is a recipient of The Tony Snowdon Scholarship. Visit Kimberley’s Instagram.
Jay Price (MA Printmaking, 2015)
Jay Price is a London based artist, making work about their own lived experience with psychosis, autism, and brain damage caused by the treatments for these conditions. Their practice addresses urgent challenges facing both artists and the art world, contributing to the evolution of the industry.
Jay is the recipient of the 2022 Adam Reynolds Award, which provides a £10k bursary and a creative residency opportunity to a mid-career disabled artist. During this residency, Jay created The Mine, a new interactive game-artwork. Immersing the user in a derelict, disused space found underneath an art gallery, the work seeks to act as a memorial to the ‘people no-one remembers,’ and exposes overlooked histories of disability discrimination.
Hear more about Jay's work and life in their Artist Q&A with the RCA's Disabled Students Network, as part of the RCA's Disability History Month celebrations on 1 December.
Visit Jay’s website.
Molly Hellman (MA Information Experience Design, 2022)
Molly Hellman is a materials-led animator based in London, who uses research and interviews to inform her creative practice.
She was born with congenital anosmia, a rare condition leaving her with the inability to smell. In her stop-motion short film Who Nose, which Molly created whilst studying at the RCA, she asks ‘what would life be like if you lived in an odourless world?’
“I find animation the best way of communicating what I am thinking, experiencing and feeling. ‘Who Nose’ gives an insight into the everyday mishaps about living without smell and aims to create an understanding and awareness of this and other little-known conditions.”
Who Nose was awarded Best Film by the National Association of Higher Education in the Moving Image’s Eat Our Shorts festival. It has been selected for the Lift-Off Filmmaker Sessions @ PinewoodStudios 2022 showcase, and was shortlisted for the Global Design Graduate Show 2022 in collaboration with Gucci.
Discover events from the RCA's Disabled Students Network
RCA DSN Disability History Month Artist Talk with Jay Price
An introduction to the RCA's Disabled Students' Network featuring a presentation and Q&A with artist Jay Price.
RCA Disabled Students Network x RCA Queer Society: Creatives in Conversation
Professor Richard Sandell, Co-Director of the Research Centre for Museums and Galleries (RCMG) and George Parker, the current Queer & Disabled Artist of the Year discuss hidden histories of queer disability cultures and consider how queer, disability and arts activisms can help each other.