WE ARE INVISIBLE, WE ARE VISIBLE

STRING
“The string is a reference to Marcel Duchamp’s, The First Papers of Surrealism, an exhibition that opened in 1942 at the Whitelaw Reid Mansion in Manhattan. Some viewers at the exhibition said the twine was like a guide, directing them toward paintings. Others saw it as a metaphor for the complexities of contemporary art. This performance highlights the unseen and distinguishable nature of being disabled. There is neither a unified definition of disability nor a unique experience of disability across the world. Whilst impairment does not change for the better, the role of disabling barriers does change depending on the physical, social, and psychological nature of the respective environments and attitudes, cutting their links with the disabled

“How Long Is A Piece Of String? is an also affirmation that protest art is pointless, especially when it is embraced by the establishment it becomes the criterion. DADA not only has philosophical content, but also can be used constructively as both an observation on, and a positive, productive investigation of, the human condition

“The string used in this intervention is endless like disability, however, it is not necessarily string. String is cut and re-joined many times during the performance and itself becomes endless. If it is endless, is it still a piece of string? Cutting and re-joining yarn is like trying to live with a disability. Moving forward, stopping, and restarting, coming to terms with impairment and finding ways to function. One’s disability ends when one’s life ends, and anyone can become disabled in a split second of existence.”

Jenette Coldrick Morrell