Student artists create gorgeous wearable sculptures for dancers with disabilities
It's time to recognize the beauty in disability.
A new art series is highlighting the importance of body diversity through a set of striking wearable sculptures, all designed for dancers and performance artists with disabilities. The impressive and unapologetic sculptures were created by students at NuVu Studio in Massachusetts, which runs a three-month long design program for middle school and high school students.
NuVu artists were paired with performers from Heidi Latsky Dance in New York City, tasked with creating wearable designs that shine a light on each dancer's strength and resilience.
These designs by NuVu teens are the newest part of an ongoing performance art piece titled On Display, which explores body image and appearance-based judgment. The sculptures debuted in early March as part of the ReelAbilities Film Festival in New York City.
The project "encourages viewers to look at each performer's physical differences for longer than would normally be socially acceptable, in order to gain a deeper understanding for what life is like when you constantly feel 'on display,'" according to a release.
The five performers featured in the series live with a range of conditions, from cerebral palsy to low vision.
Each pristine, white sculpture was created after discussions between the artists and performers. The teens learned about a dancer's experience living with their particular disability, and later channeled that experience into an abstract wearable.
One group collaborated with performer Jerron Herman to create a wearable sculpture that captured his experience living with cerebral palsy. The team created a massive, petal-like wing that extends from Herman's left side, where he is most impacted by cerebral palsy.
"When speaking to Jerron, my group and I picked up on a phrase he used repeatedly," artist Teresa Lourie wrote on the project page. "The idea of 'taking up space' is something he has constantly found appealing throughout his life. With his disability, he found himself having to make the space he deserved because no one would do it for him."
The result is a visually captivating sculpture that challenges misguided ideas of disability as undesirable or unappealing.
Though the designs are only one aspect of the larger series, On Display is an ongoing performance art project with multiple parts that tours throughout the country. You can find scheduled performances of On Display here.
Topics Social Good
Katie Dupere was a Social Good reporter at Mashable from May 2015 to July 2017, covering activism, identities and social impact. Prior to her work with Mashable, Katie penned pieces about queerness, body positivity, sex and relationships for Gurl. She also previously contributed LGBTQ news coverage to PinkNews.
