Visual Art – Disability Justice and Violence Prevention Resource Hub

Disability Without Limits

By Johnson Simons

This painting depicts someone with a disability, jumping from brick to brick defying their physical limitations, and overcoming the odds that life throws at them.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Johnson Simon

I have always been interested in body movement and when an opportunity was presented to me to attend a dance recital exhibition nine years ago on the Western Michigan University campus, I was excited to attend. Viewing the dancers and their freedom of movement inspired me to display movement in my painting. I was stimulated to create my first dance focused expressionistic painting. Dancing is to me, the art of moving lightly and quickly with the skill of communicating my emotion. As someone with a disability, movement impacts me on a daily basis. In order to help gain more knowledge of motion and movement, I used several sources of movement for research and to enhance ideas. I watch several videos of dancing to help in determining the type of movement I wanted to present in my painting. I studied the movement of people: walking, running, swimming, and sky diving. I then had my own walking and stepping up and down stairways videotaped. I discovered that my walking has a rhythm to it. To further enhance my study of movement I attended several dancing classes to sketch the dancer’s movements for effect. My painting is a representation of me dancing. I am able to make broad and sweeping motions with my paint brush and transfer that motion and feeling of movement onto the canvas to express myself. In my artistic work, I am able to move freely about without limitations. I use bright colors to represent the body movement throughout the surface.

My artwork is a way for me to express or transfer how I would move freely and uninterrupted. I can run, walk, jump, and I can dance without being bound to limitations when I paint. Zm and draw. I believe the paint brush is an extension of me and represents my idea of movement on canvas.

www.artbyjohnsonsimon.com

A man with medium brown skin, with short black hair, wearing glasses, and smiling broadly in front of a white background.

Unknown Cause

The artwork is a line drawing in marker with colored pencils for emphasis. The piece shows the merging of health, struggles with addiction, pain and diagnosis with visuals of a bloodstream flowing through pills, flowers, plants, quotes, medical bills, and diagnoses, some from doctors and some from friends, family, or acquaintances. Text: Live and Let Live; "fight flight and freeze behaviors are unconsciously reflexive"; Robotic laparoscopic hysterectomy; emotional abuse; Disorder, Unspecified 300.02; Insurance Denial; "What story are you telling yourself"; This, too, shall pass; to remove the uterus (womb); patient balance- $29,886.61, insurance balance; "When pain becomes chronic, the nervous system naturally becomes overactive"; pain 1-5 (worst); Depressive Disorder; "There is so much we don't know, and to write truthfully about your life, your own or your mother's... is to engage repeatedly with those patches of darkness, those nights of history, those places of unknown...(R.Solnit); post traumatic stress disorder. — The artwork is a line drawing in marker with colored pencils for emphasis. The piece shows the merging of health, struggles with addiction, pain and diagnosis with visuals of a bloodstream flowing through pills, flowers, plants, quotes, medical bills, and diagnoses, some from doctors and some from friends, family, or acquaintances. Text: Live and Let Live; “fight flight and freeze behaviors are unconsciously reflexive”; Robotic laparoscopic hysterectomy; emotional abuse; Disorder, Unspecified 300.02; Insurance Denial; “What story are you telling yourself”; This, too, shall pass; to remove the uterus (womb); patient balance- $29,886.61, insurance balance; “When pain becomes chronic, the nervous system naturally becomes overactive”; pain 1-5 (worst); Depressive Disorder; “There is so much we don’t know, and to write truthfully about your life, your own or your mother’s… is to engage repeatedly with those patches of darkness, those nights of history, those places of unknown…(R. Solnit); post traumatic stress disorder.

Meet the artist

Solomon, she/her, an artist — Solomon, she/her, artist

About the artist:

Stephanie Solomon (she/her) is the new Youth Program Coordinator with the Indiana Coalition Against Domestic Violence. She spent over 3 years as Prevention Coordinator with the Youth Services Bureau of Monroe County, with a focus on promoting healthy relationships and environments for youth and families. She is a graduate of Indiana University with 19 years of experience in the social service sector and is currently pursuing a Master’s in Public Health at Indiana University. Stephanie is an adult ally with the Kaleidoscope Youth Community. She is passionate about primary prevention and building spaces that promote belonging for youth and families. She enjoys karaoking to Barbara Streisand songs.

About the art:

The artwork is a line drawing in marker with colored pencils for emphasis. The piece shows the merging of health, struggles with addiction, pain and diagnosis with visuals of a bloodstream flowing through pills, flowers, plants, quotes, medical bills, and diagnoses, some from doctors and some from friends, family, or acquaintances. Text: Live and Let Live; “fight flight and freeze behaviors are unconsciously reflexive”; Robotic laparoscopic hysterectomy; emotional abuse; Disorder, Unspecified 300.02; Insurance Denial; “What story are you telling yourself”; This, too, shall pass; to remove the uterus (womb); patient balance- $29,886.61, insurance balance; “When pain becomes chronic, the nervous system naturally becomes overactive”; pain 1-5 (worst); Depressive Disorder; “There is so much we don’t know, and to write truthfully about your life, your own or your mother’s… is to engage repeatedly with those patches of darkness, those nights of history, those places of unknown…(R.Solnit); post traumatic stress disorder.

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Arms Up for Blessings and Breath

Arms up for blessings and breath

This is my reflection of how nature is able to rejuvenate the spirit and the senses in many forms. These photos were all taken on my cell phone as I am traveling to many places with a fresh outlook on life.

By Christina Marie Martin

Hay — Close up of hay against the backdrop of the sky.

Tree — Close up of hay against the backdrop of the sky.

Artwork, People With Disabilities, Survivor Voices, Visual Art

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Scarlet

Title: Scarlet

Description: Girl crouched down on her heels, holding her knees. She has piercing blue green eyes and flames of fire around her. Some people get lost in the fire, and some people get built from it.

Artist: Liz Williamson

Liz Williamson is an artist who enjoys everything creative. She lives in California and uses art to help express herself after not being able to for so long.

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Unknown Cause

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Arms up for blessings and breath

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