THE WORK OF (CREATING) ART
2010; Routledge; Volume: 24; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1080/09502380903406684
ISSN1466-4348
Autores Tópico(s)Disability Rights and Representation
ResumoAbstract While engaging the process of artistic creation at the Creative Growth Art Center (CGAC) in San Francisco, California, Judith Scott produced numerous enigmatic three-dimensional fiber and mixed media sculpture pieces that subsequently received international attention. Approaching Scott's life and art from the perspective of Disability Studies – understood as an expressly political project – takes us beyond the limitations of the label of Art Brut/Outsider Art and of questions of artistic communication to properly situate her activities at the CGAC as work in both a social and economic sense. Judith's story – and her representation in a recent Spanish documentary film by directors Lola Barrera and Iñaki Peñafiel – suggests that in aspiring to achieve greater social and economic inclusion for such marginalized populations we must challenge the pervasive clinical paradigm that frames disability as lack and go further by cultivating sustainable, meaningful work experiences, such as that offered by the CGAC to people with developmental disabilities. Ultimately, creating art has the potential to be such a form of meaningful work. Keywords: Judith Scott (1943–2005)outsider artdisability studiesDown syndromedeafness Notes 1. While the book Collection de l'Art Brut Lausanne (2001) by Michel Thévoz Thévoz M. 2001 Collection de l'Art Brut Lausanne postface L. Peiry, Musées Suisses, BNP Paribas Suisse en collaboration avec l'Institut Suisse Pour l'Etude de l'Art [Google Scholar] does not include a section on Scott's work, it is a good introduction to the movement's origins and conceptual framework, and splendidly details some of the many artists whose work is included in the Lausanne collection. 2. The store's online shop may be accessed at creativegrowth.myshopify.com. 3. An important interview sequence from ¿Qué tienes …? focuses on visiting CGAC artist Sylvia Seventy as an artistic influence on Judy's work. MacGregor (1999) also mentions this influence and goes further by exploring Judy's relationship with another CGAC visiting artist Richard Elliott (p. 114), something that is not explored in the film. 4. MacGregor points out that 'Since participation usually involves five full days per week of non-stop creative activity, only those individuals displaying an intense commitment to image-making are encouraged to become permanent members of the Center. Only when she discovered fiber and began to construct three-dimensional forms, did her interest intensify to an obsessional degree, after which she strenuously resisted all attempts to involve her with other media' (1999, p. 6). 5. Artists covered in Barrera and Peñafiel's documentary include also Donald Mitchell, Dan Miller a.k.a. 'Danny,' and an unnamed artist who documents a fictitious place called 'chocolate city' (where people who do not like chocolate or music are not allowed) (see creativegrowth.org/gallery for more information on Mitchell and Miller). 6. See, for example, Davis's Enforcing Normalcy (1995), McRuer McRuer, R. 2006. Crip Theory: Cultural Signs of Queerness and Disability, New York: New York University Press. [Google Scholar]'s Crip Theory (2006), Sedgwick's Touching Feeling (2002) and Carlson's article in Hypatia (2001). 7. Such is the model articulated by Kittay (1999 Kittay, E. F. 1999. Love's Labor: Essays on Equality, Dependence and Care, New York: Routledge. [Google Scholar], 2001 Kittay, E. F. 2001. 'When caring is just and justice is caring: justice and mental retardation'. Public Culture, 13(3): 557–579. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar], 2002 Kittay E. F. 2002 'When caring is just and justice is caring' The Subject of Care: Feminist Perspectives on Dependency E. F. Kittay E. K. Feder Rowman & Littlefield Lanham, MD 257 276 [Google Scholar]) and Kittay et al. (2005 Kittay, E. F., with Jennings, B. and Wasunna, A. A. 2005. 'Dependency, difference and the global ethic of longterm care'. The Journal of Political Philosophy, 13(4): 443–469. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). 8. This essay appeared first in Public Culture (Kittay 2001 Kittay, E. F. 2001. 'When caring is just and justice is caring: justice and mental retardation'. Public Culture, 13(3): 557–579. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). See also Kittay et al. (2005 Kittay, E. F., with Jennings, B. and Wasunna, A. A. 2005. 'Dependency, difference and the global ethic of longterm care'. The Journal of Political Philosophy, 13(4): 443–469. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). 9. Perhaps because of this title decision by the filmmakers, this nickname has stuck in the Spanish press (see 'La mujer araña [The Spider Woman]'; Luzán 2006 Luzán J. 2006 'La mujer araña' El País 26 November (accessed 18 August 2008) [Google Scholar]). MacGregor (1999) contributes to the idea of Judy as a spider in his earlier book. 10. A short film by Julio Medem focusing on Alicia's invisible friend 'Clecla' also appears on the DVD. 11. Complementing the focus on Judy's own artist persona, the film significantly incorporates the artistic identities and processes of other people with intellectual disabilities doing work at the CGAC and even by covering the opening of their artistic work at the Center's art gallery. Significant in this regard is that during the film's 37th minute, that is – at the mid-way point of the film's approximately 75-minute narrative and therefore occupying an intentionally privileged position – we see the opening of work by Donald Mitchell). 12. Compare this with such works as the book Metamorphosis: The Fiber Art of Judith Scott (MacGregor 1999) and the film Outsider: The Life and Art of Judith Scott (Betsy Bayha, in post-production) – which 'delves deeply into the life of a compelling, eccentric and talented individual who has survived in the face of daunting odds' (www.judithscottdocumentary.org/about.htm). 13. As MacGregor's book reveals, one of Judy's sculptures consists solely of numerous paper towels wrapped together around and through each other (1999, p. 111). This image was, in fact, chosen as the cover art for his book (also plate 33 on pages 112–113). 14. This is evident early on in the film when Joyce reads aloud from some of Judy's institutional records which state that 'she is reluctant to talk and is not too cooperative.' As stated earlier, although Judy was deaf (a fact which goes unnoticed in her records for some 20 years), Joyce reads for us how Judy was misdiagnosed on account of her non-response to the command 'point to the red circle' even though she was not able to hear the instructions due to her deafness. The camera works to capture the documents in close-up in order to visually emphasize the inadequacy of such a clinical paradigm.
Referência(s)