Big Softie and the Unidentified Remains, Unfired clay and found textile soft sculpture. Exhibited in Body Farm at Tangled Art + Disability, 2019.

Birdie

Birdie creates “soft body horror” – a mythology of monsters that live on the “Body Farm.” Using mixed media images and sculpture, Birdie pieces together a Mad gaze: a way of seeing that encompasses what some might call a combination of autism, gender dysphoria, and PTSD. This lens of “Madness” reframes Birdie’s experiences with awe, humour, and hope in a way that exists outside of medical models, and affirms that Madness is not a pathology, but an invitation to pursue unexpected futures.

“Body Farm” is a multi-sensory experience that can also be explored in physical spaces though touch and audio. Accessibility features such as tactile sculpture and audio description are intrinsic to the world of the “Body Farm,” affectionately asserting that, like Mad-positivity, accessible arts practices are a doorway to vibrant new worlds.

Birdie lives in Hamilton, Ontario, and is a 2017 graduate of Visual and Creative Arts at Sheridan College. In 2019, Birdie was awarded the Won Lee Fellowship and the Intergenerational LGBT Artist Residency, and exhibited Birdie’s first solo show, “Body Farm”, with Tangled Art + Disability. Birdie will be a participant of Centre3’s 2021 Emerging Artist Residency and will show a new solo exhibit of “Body Farm” at Hamilton Artists Inc. in spring of 2023.


Exhibitions

Art form

Visual Arts
Painting
Textiles
Sculpture
Sound Art
Installation
Writing

Community

Disabled
Mad
Fat
Queer
Trans

Location

Hamilton, Ontario, Canada

Professional photo of artist M.C Cruz, circa July 2019.

M. C Cruz

M.C Cruz a.k.a Chris is a child of Chilean immigrants. Who was born, raised and currently based in Toronto but has also lived in in Chile and more recently did an Artist Residency in Morocco and Spain. They attended Etobicoke School of Arts and majored in Visual Arts before moving to Vancouver to study film and video production at Capilano University. They facilitated filmmaking workshops for marginalized communities as part of Fright Film Academy and Fright Film School. They have written, directed and produced several live action and animated short films including “Vampyric PSA”, “La Llorona” and “Root Causes”. “Root Causes” screened at Rendezvous with Madness film festival with a special invitation to be part of the filmmakers panel. It has also screened at OCAD for a special preview screening by Artist Health Alliance.

Their painting series “Refuge From Home” has been showcased at the University of Toronto and Toronto City Hall this past October 2019. It is currently being shown at TMAC and virtually (due to the pandemic) as part of the juried art exhibition “Being Scene” by Workman Arts.

Their goal is to keep on creating art and telling stories that challenge the status quo, always with meaning and passion.


Recent work

The painting series “Refuge From Home” is currently being shown at TMAC and virtually (due to the pandemic) as part of the juried art exhibition “Being Scene” by Workman Arts. I am also working on art and films while in Morocco during this unforeseen pandemic. Please check out my website and Instagram for updates! Thank you so much! Gracias de verdad!

Exhibitions

PUBLIC EXHIBITS

  • Being Scene Juried Art Exhibit at Toronto Media Arts Center (TMAC), March 2020
  • Rendezvous With Madness Film Festival, Jackman Hall Cinema, October 2019
  • University of Toronto, Artside Out, October 2019
  • Toronto City Hall, Hispanic Canada Heritage Art Show, October 29 – Nov. 2 2019
  • WOCMES FIlm Festival, University of Seville, Spain, July 2018
  • Dar Souiri Gallery Photography Show, Essaouira, Morocco, July 2018
  • Rad Grad Exhibit, Sketch at Artscape Youngplace, December 2015
  • U for Change Photo and Film Screening, Sept. 2012

Art form

Visual Arts
Painting
Photography
Textiles
Design
Film
Writing

Community

Mad
Neurodiverse
Survivor
Indigenous
POC
LGBTQ2SIA+
Queer
Feminist

Location

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

A black and white photo of a performer dressed as the Ubermarionette wearing a morph suit -which covers all visible skin.They are sitting casually leaning back on a flight of stairs. They are wearing light coloured overalls, a black beret and holding a Super8 video camera to their right eye.

Lisa Anita Wegner

Lisa Anita Wegner is a filmmaker, performer, curator, producer and instructor at the haus of dada. She is the creative producer of Mighty Brave Productions, a small award-winning multi-media production company and a founding member of the Akhilanda Collaborative. Her work has been shown at the Phoenix Art Museum, Art Gallery of Ontario, Mayworks Festival, Nuit Blanche, ReelAsian Film Festival, Long Winter, Workman Arts, Gallery 1313, Toronto Art Fair, Buddies in Bad Times, The Black Cat Artspace and NXNE Festival. Her ventures into large-scale performance installations include the 26-foot “Queen Of The Parade,”; a 10-foot version of The Queen was commissioned by Partners in Art, for ARTrageous In Motion. Lisa is pushing further with live performance performing Anandam’s Body Break at Theatre Passe Murielle, PROCESS at Artscape Youngplace, Buddies in Bad Times and Rendezvous with Madness to name a few. Lisa exhibited writing and a photography in Yoko Ono’s ARISING exhibition at The Phi Centre in Montreal. Lisa is proud to be affiliated with Tangled Art + Disability.


Art form

Visual Arts
Painting
Photography
Installation
Performance Art
Film
Theatre
Curation
Programming

Community

Disabled
Mad
Survivor
Queer
Feminist

Exhibitions

  • Arising: Writing / Photography in group show. Shown at Fondation Phi pour l’art contemporain 2018. Curated by Yoko Ono, Montreal, ON
  • Queen Of The Parade: Performance/Film 2013/2014 curated by Patrick Macaulay for Nuit Blanche and for ArtRageous in Motion annual fundraiser for Partners In Art, Toronto ON
  • The Art Game: Performer in live art installation 2011 “The Most Prolific Artist in the World,” Toronto International Art Fair, Toronto ON; Kent Monkman installation 

Organizational Affiliation

  • haus of dada
  • Mighty Brave Productions

Location

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Headshot of Emily. She has long blonde hair, and is wearing a black blazer and smiling.

Emily Gillespie

Emily Gillespie is an author, activist and daydreamer. She has an MA in Disability Studies. Dancing with Ghosts (2017) is her first novel. She is currently working on her second book. Her writing appears in several anthologies.


Recent work

I am finishing my second novel, which I received TAC funding for.

Art form

Performance Art
Writing

Community

Disabled
Mad
Neurodiverse
Survivor
LGBTQ2SIA+
Queer
Feminist

Organizational Affiliation

Workman Arts

Location

Hamilton, Ontario

Website

facebook.com/Gillespie.Em

A photo of Gaitrie wearing a blue wig and blue lipstick. She is wearing a metallic bodysuit and signing.

Gaitrie Persaud

Deaf artist, model, actress, Deaf Interpreter, ASL coach and infamous dynamic personality, Gaitrie “Natasha” Persaud, was born and raised in Toronto, Ontario. Her family lineage hails from Portuguese, Brazilian, Guyanese, and Indian backgrounds. Before becoming a mom to three beautiful children, Gaitrie lived in New York State where she was able to meet Deaf BIPOC artists and was given an opportunity to collaborate on events as a model, artist, and promoter with Def Familia. Currently, Gaitrie is a musical performer for MDL CHLD, LAL and international singers. She is also working on her own Deaf BIPOC television series in American Sign Language (ASL) and the play “The Two Natashas” with Natasha Bacchus. Gaitrie recently performed with her group at Buddies in Bad Times for Pride. She is currently building her empire Phoenix the Fire. Her company is a theatre community hub providing workshops, resources, facilitating partnerships to leverage QTIBPOC Deaf Artists & their endeavours.


Recent work

  • PRIDE Performance
  • Live Streamed The Two Natashas
  • Canadian Improv team Eh! on Facebook livestream

Art form

Visual Arts
Music
Performance Art
Film
Theatre
Dance
Writing
Workshops

Community

Deaf
POC
Queer

A photo of Natasha.

Natasha Bacchus

I am Natasha Cecily Bacchus. I am an athlete and artist, passionate about mental health, deaf advocacy, fitness and physical expression. Throughout my life, I have nurtured my passion for fitness by competing as a professional athlete and securing medal positions in both the Deaf Olympics and Pan Am Olympics as well as many other competitive sporting events. While running was my first passion and a means of emotional release, I used acting as a mode of physical expression and found theatre and film to be the preferred spaces for me to thrive as an actor. I have participated in a number of theatre and film productions and have a strong desire to continue to grow and develop as an artist in these industries, expanding representation to include differently-abled persons and empowering Black Deaf women in Canada to shine on and off the stage.


Recent work

  • 2019 – Deaf Performer for Deaf Queer First Event under Deaf Spectrum in Toronto
  • 2019 – Pioneer Actress “The Black Drum” SoundPepper Theatre, Toronto, Ontario
  • January 2019 – Deaf Interpretation Theatre for Fringe Festival
  • July 2019 – Deaf Actress for The Black Drum Festival Clin D’Oeil in Reims, France
  • August 2019 – Theatre In&Out “The Good Host” Assembly Deaf Arts Accessibility Discussion
  • September 2019 – MDL ASL music

Art form

Visual Arts
Music
Performance Art
Spoken Word
Theatre
Dance
Writing
Scriptwriting

Community

Deaf
Black
Queer
Feminist

Location

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

A headshot photo of a woman in a red hijab and black shirt with her hands over her face against a white background with lines of alternating black and red text consisting of various labels used to describe mentally ill folks (such as mad, insane, psycho). The labels are also overlaid on the woman’s face, body, hands, and shirt.

Hanan Hazime

Hanan Hazime is a multidisciplinary artist, creative writer, community arts educator, and writing instructor living in Tkaranto/Toronto. She also identifies as a Lebanese-Canadian Muslimah Feminist and Mad Pride Activist. Through her intersectional and interdisciplinary artwork, Hanan aims to push boundaries, question arbitrary binaries, dispel stigmas, and shatter stereotypes. Her primary mission as an arts educator is to provide accessible arts education to marginalized communities with a special focus on crafting safe, empowered spaces for Muslims, individuals with mental health challenges, folks with disabilities, and BIPOC youth to discover and enhance their writing and art skills. When not writing or creating art, Hanan enjoys reading fantasy novels, over-analyzing things, photo-blogging, dancing with faeries in the woods, and drinking copious amounts of tea.


Exhibitions

PAST GROUP EXHIBITIONS:

  • In Red, (mixed media on canvas), Feminist Art Fest 2020
  • Dissociation, (collage on paper), 2019 (mus)interpreted Exhibit
  • I’m Fine II (digital print on fabric), Being Scene 2019 Exhibit 
  • Labels series (3 digital prints on fabric), Bursting Bubbles 2018 Exhibit
  • I Can’t Breathe (mixed media on canvas), Being Scene 2018 Exhibit

Art form

Visual Arts
Painting
Photography
Sound Art
Design
Performance Art
Writing
Digital Art

Community

Disabled
Mad
Neurodiverse
Fat
Survivor
POC
Feminist
Muslim

Location

Tkaronto/Toronto, Ontario, Canada

A self-portrait of Ysabelle done in watercolor.

Ysabelle Vautour

Acadian artist and art teacher Ysabelle Vautour started out working in the mental health and disability support sector.

She began painting two years ago when she decided to paint and create art every day for a year. Ysabelle uses a contemplative approach to her portraits. She has ten years of experience in both improv and swing dancing, so it’s not surprising that she paints intuitively and enjoys the process of creating things in the moment as they are happening.

In 2019 after a few months into her 365 art everyday challenge, she was invited to speak at Artslink’s Short and Sweet Speaker Series, participated in a few live painting competitions, and started teaching at Serenity Wellness, the NBCCD Craft Library, as well as private classes. Her art was featured at the Fredericton Public Library, Art Kitchen, and CBC New Brunswick. Ysabelle’s work was also selected for a juried exhibition at the Nails on the Wall Gallery in Metuchen, New Jersey. Being no stranger to trying new things, she ended the year by doing some arts writing for Grid City Magazine.

Art brought so much joy and excitement to her life that she decided to keep the momentum going. She is sensitive to light, so she learned that Plein air painting on a sunny day was not the best thing for her. Ysabelle’s artwork and photography tend to be close up, bringing a sense of intimacy to the viewer and is a better view for the legally blind painter. While she always had an interest in the arts, she stayed away from painting, thinking it was not for her as she is colour blind and wouldn’t be able to tell if the colours looked muddy. It wasn’t until she tried art as therapy that she was able to focus on how it feels making the art as opposed to how it will look at the end.

In 2020 Ysabelle became a board member at Connexion Artist Run Center. She was featured in the Shediac Artist Village, Ami télé, and Created Here Magazine. She was recruited to give a public talk to NBCCD Craft College art students and was the artist in residence at the Fredericton Arts Alliance. Ysabelle received a micro-grant for her self-directed Alone Together residency from NBCCD Craft Library.

Ysabelle had two solo exhibitions in 2021, the first at the Penny Gallery in Fredericton and the second at Corid’art Gallery in Shediac. She was awarded a creation grant from Arts NB for her project “Bodies in Motion,” where she will delve into a more figurative painting style that is larger in scale, during her residency at Connextion Artist-Run Center in December.

This year she was featured on Global News, Thirdspace Gallery Podcast, Halifax’s Art of Disability Festival and as a live painter on the national stage at the Disability Without Poverty August Roundup event. A graduate of Artslink’s Catapult arts and business accelerator program Ysabelle is being mentored by the feminist painter and rug hooker Alexandrya Eaton.

Ysabelle is currently working on Atlantic Canada’s first Disability Art Symposium. The project is in collaboration with Theatre New Brunswick and the JRG Society for the Arts. 

As for 2022, look out for her tv appearance on 100% Passion and her solo exhibition at Leon Leger Gallery in Grand Barachois. Finally, she is planning the New Brunswick Disability Art Collective’s first show group at the Fredericton Playhouse Gallery in January. 


Exhibitions

Solo Exhibitions

  • Penny Gallery Charlotte Street art Center NB – August-October 2020 (postponed)
  • Leon Leger Art Gallery Eglise Historique, Grand Barachois NB – June 2020 ( Postponed)

Group Exhibitions

  • Psyche Group Show Created Here Studios July-August 2020
  • Happy Baker Westmorland St location Fredericton – August 2019-Ongoing
  • Cinnamon Cafe Fredericton NB – June 2019 – Ongoing
  • Current Issacs’s Way Art Auction Fredericton NB – May 2019-September 2020
  • Juried Exhibition Nails on the Wall Gallery Metuchen, New Jersey USA- September-December 2019
  • Recovery Art Show Public Library Fredericton NB November 2019
  • Kings Landing MacBeath Art Gallery Prince William NB – July-September 2019
  • See Me Art Show Dieppe Arts and Culture Center Dieppe NB – May 2019
  • CNIB Art Show Government House Fredericton NB – October 2013

Press

Art form

Visual Arts
Painting
Photography
Sculpture
Performance Art
Spoken Word
Dance
Writing
Improv Comedy

Community

Disabled
Mad
Blind
Fat
Feminist

Location

Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada

An oval-shaped copperleaf that is green with white jagged edges. Printed in the leaf's chlorophyll, in pale green, is a self-portrait of Megan, who is looking off to the side.

Megan Bent

Megan Bent is a New England-based artist and teaching artist. She received her MFA and Graduate Certificate in Disability Studies from the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa in 2012. She received her BFA from the School of Visual Arts, NY, in 2004. Through photography, she explores disability culture and identity.

Her artwork has been exhibited widely across the United States in exhibitions at The Vera Project, in Seattle, WA, The East Hawaiian Cultural Center/HMOCA in Hilo, Hawai’i, Flux Factory in Long Island City, NY, El Museo Cultural, Santa Fe, NM, The Foster Gallery, in Dedham MA, Soho Photo Gallery in Tribeca, NY, and the Austin Central Library Gallery in Austin, TX.

She has been an artist in residence at the Nobles School in Dedham, MA and at the Honolulu Museum of Art, HI. She has presented her work at The Pacific Rim International Conference on Disability and Diversity in Honolulu, HI, at Other Bodies: (Self) Representation, Disability and the Media at the University of Westminster in London, U.K., and at Critical Junctures at Emory University in Atlanta, GA.


Recent work

Press

Art form

Visual Arts
Photography
Installation
Film

Community

Disabled
Feminist

Location

West Hartford, CT, USA