WE ARE INVISIBLE WE ARE VISIBLE
WARNING: Some may find the flashing imagery contained in this film upsetting. Do not watch if you are sensitive to rapid editing
JUSTIN EDGAR
We Are Invisible We Are Visible
Justin Edgar is an award-winning British film maker. He is an advocate for better representation of disabled people both in front of and behind the camera. Commissioned by DASH, this new film is created from footage of thirty different interventions by artists who identify as D/deaf, disabled or neurodivergent. These interventions were staged simultaneously on 2 Jul 2022 at galleries across the UK, including The Exchange, as part of WAIWAV: We Are Invisible We Are Visible.
WAIWAV marked the 102nd anniversary of the 1st International Dada Exhibition. Dada was an art movement formed in response to the horror and recklessness of the First World War. WAIWAV, the Ampersand Award winning project by DASH, channels the defiant and absurdist spirit of the Dada movement, purposefully provoking people to reflect on the societal barriers that continue to restrict and exclude disabled people today.
Edgar describes ‘a Dadaist film for the digital age, which will eviscerate the interventions and reassemble them in random order’, this film both captures and celebrates artists with disabilities or neurodivergence whose practice is often invisible in wider society. Edgar himself was diagnosed as hard of hearing as a teenager.
WAIWAV participating museums and galleries: Arnolfini, Baltic, Centre for Contemporary Art, Firstsite, Focal point, Golden Thread Gallery, Grizedale Arts, Glynn Vivian Art Gallery, Harris Museum and Art Gallery, Home, The Hepworth Wakefield, Ikon Gallery, John Hansard Gallery, Leeds Art Gallery, Liverpool Biennial, Manchester Art Gallery, MIMA, MK Gallery, Modern Art Oxford, Newlyn Art Gallery & The Exchange, Nottingham Contemporary, The Pier Arts Centre, Site Gallery, Tate Britain, Tate Liverpool, Tate Modern, Tate St Ives, Towner, Turner Contemporary, and VOID.
Participating Artists: AIM (Art In Motion); Lisette Auton; Mianam Bashir/Emma Powell; Cheryl Beer; Alex Billingham; Sonia Boué; Caroline Cardus; Luke ‘Luca’ Cockayne; Jenette Coldrick; Dora Colquhoun; Grace Currie; Porcelain Delaney; Alistair Gentry; gobscure; Anahita Harding; Tony Heaton/ Terry Smith; Hayley Hindle; April Lin 林森; Christina Lovey; Stav Meishar; Sam Metz; Chisato Minamimura; Andrea Mindel; Ashokkumar Mistry; Jo Munton/Stephanie Finegan; Bel Pye; Alice Quarterman; Chris Tally Evans; Kristina Veasey; Nicola Woodham; Aaron Williamson.
We are Invisible We are Visible (WAIWAV) is presented by DASH, the disabled led visual arts organisation, and was awarded the 2021 Ampersand Prize.
