Artist Statement: "The controversy revolved around the question of whether or not there is a moment, which escapes human perception."
Unsupported Transit, 1878
Photographs of people with disabilities are often empathetic, inspirational, or bring into question the intent of the photographer and their response in defending the agency of their subjects. Artists like Diane Arbus were accused of crossing ethical lines. If the photographer is responsible for the agency of their subjects, then there is an assumption that the camera exploits, which it does, and the person being photographed is not accountable for their agency. It constructs a world where people with disabilities are not included in photographs in fear of exploitation, and therefore the conversations remain absent or unchanged. Matt Ebert and I attempt to alter this logic through our collaboration. With a 4x5 view camera, we create photographs that are playful, not somber, and resist an aggressive documentary style that hinges on revealing a truth, or tragedy by replacing it with tableau.
As an extension of my own body the camera can, sometimes, record what I cannot see. When Muybridge photographed ta horses' hooves leaving the ground, he used the camera to prove the horse’s unsupported transit at full gait. He photographed what he could not see, what human vision was not capable of perceiving. Eyes and cameras can describe the world factually, but vision remains clouded by perception. Wheelchair tornados reveal the invisibilities of motion that visually merge Matt's body with his wheelchair. I make photographs in an attempt to see social constructs of disability in our world, and its relationship to the body to highlight invisibilities between people with and without disabilities. It is with Matt as my subject that I aim to create imagery that can build a new conversation including people with disabilities adding to the photographic universe.
Image 1: Matt’s back brace on a coffee table
Image 2: Matt’s back brace on a coffee table
Image 3: Portrait of Matt Ebert looking at the camera
Image 4: Matt reclining back in his wheelchair in his home
Image 5: Matt actively tilting back in his wheelchair as a blur you cannot see his body
Image 6: Matt with a necklace with a medical screw swinging from his hand, the screw is multiplied four times
Image 7: A light mark as evidence of Matt spinning in his wheelchair and holding the camera
Image 8: Matt spinning in his wheelchair on his front porch
Image 9: Matt spinning far away under a roadway bridge
Image 10: Matt spinning under a pole light at night
Image 11: The inside of a Playstation 4
Image 12: Matt with a Mask on inside a switch activated moveable frame
Image 13: Matt moving in his front yard with plated flowers in an automatic moveable frame
Image 14: Matt spinning in the park
Image 15: Ground marks from Matt spinning
Image 16: Matt spinning on a concrete pad in front of trees
Image 17: Ghostly wheelchair wheels on a sidewalk curb
Image 18: Multiplied wheelchair wheels to show movement
Image 19: Large crack in a sidewalk
Image 20: Matt spinning in his yard with Dianna’s shadow projecting on the image
Image 21: Matt holding his phone with a picture of his favorite tree
Image 22: Matt spinning in front of his favorite tree
____ pictures of objects that are blue. All of the pictures are in grids. There are blue cars, houses, flags, and many other blue objects inside of square images. There are also colored blue squares.