Insiders/outsiders of Canadian disability arts

Disability art is a burgeoning arts sector in Canada that takes the experience of disability as a creative entry point (Chandler, 2019;Chandler et al., 2021).Through creative practice, disabled artists often challenge normative ways of understanding disability by representing their embodiment in agentive, intersectional and nuanced ways that are driven by and authentic to their lived experiences (Abbas et al., 2004, p. 1).As Kelly and Orsini (2016) write, 'disability cultures and aesthetics can and do transform situated and lived experiences of difference' (p.4).Contributing to disability rights and justice, disability arts can confront ableism by asserting the agency, political will, creativity and collectivity of disabled people as culturally vital (Campbell, 2009;Ignagni et al., 2021;Ignagni and Schormans, 2016).Such a cultural redress is significant given that hundreds of thousands of disabled people were institutionalized throughout Canada starting in the mid-1800s; in Ontario, for instance, the first institution was opened in 1876, and the last closed in 2009 (Brown andRadford, 2015;Reaume, 2012).Considered 'mentally defective' and 'incurable' , developmentally disabled people were especially likely to be institutionalized (Brown, et al., p. 26).Institutionalization was partially motivated by the eugenic practice of custodialism that removed disabled people from public spaces, including spaces of arts and culture, because of the belief that their presence was detrimental to the growth of nation building (Malacrida, 2018;Voronka, 2008).There is a well-documented practice of curators coming into these institutions to select artwork created by institutionalized people to exhibit it as 'Outsider Art' or Art Brut (Prinz, 2017).Within (and outside of) disability arts cultures, Outsider Art is typically categorized as innocent, non-conscious art most often created by institutionalized artists who were self-taught, situated outside the mainstream art world and whose work was exhibited by nondisabled curators without crediting the artist (Chandler as cited in Chandler, 2017;Nelson, 2016;Prinz, 2017;Sandals, 2016;Swain, 2019).The practice of showing art created by disabled people as Outsider Art mirrored the ableist treatment that disabled people experienced inside of institutions based on the idea that they did not have the capacity to take care of themselves, express themselves, or assert agency in decision-making.As a result of the ways that ableism manifested in circles of Outsider Art, these artists were excluded from standard practices, such as attending exhibition openings or being asked to deliver artist talks (Gorman, 2007;Nelson, 2016).Further, if their artwork was purchased, they did not receive a percentage of the profits, and they were not supported in their professional development (Gorman, 2007;Nelson, 2016).Legacies of institutionalization persist, impacting disability activism, culture, and politics as well as our resistance.Sean Lee, Director of Programming at Tangled Art + Disability, Canada's leading disability arts organization, has observed that the mainstream art world continues to position artwork produced by disabled people as a therapeutic tool for healing non-normative bodies and minds rather than as artistic expression and as a vehicle for social change.Such assumptions have ongoing material effects on the lives of disabled people and contribute to the de-professionalization and depoliticization of disability arts.For example, as disability artist Aislinn Thomas (2021) reports, many artists working within day program structures (After deinstitutionalization, social service agencies in Canada started day programs for people with developmental disabilities to gather, learn life skills, and engage in recreational activities such as arts and crafts) still do not have ownership or control over their artwork, choice in subject matter or receive earnings from the sale of their work (para.4).The continuation of these ableist practices, particularly for artists working within institutions or organizations which mobilize the charity model of disability, has led many disability artists to distance themselves from Outsider Art and its paternalistic, exploitative past.It is often understood that this distancing is necessary for disabled artists to be recognized as professional artists and to gain access to training, funding and exhibition opportunities, which they have been historically denied.As disability studies scholar and artist Rachel Gorman wrote in 2007, '…as professional artists, we do need access to continuing professional development.Specifically, we need more workshops organized by artist/activists, rather than by non-disabled-identified artists who want to do away with technique or who push alternative techniques as a substitute for doing the work of translating and adapting technique for the participants' (p.50).

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