The University of Toledo is hosting artwork by 15 emerging young artists with disabilities from across the country.
The traveling exhibition from the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., is titled MERGE and considers the intersections, juxtaposition and combinations of creative process and disability identity.
A multimedia sculpture by Mike Cannata of Illinois is one of several artworks by emerging young artists with disabilities from across the country featured in a traveling exhibit from the Kennedy Center and hosted by UToledo.
Co-sponsored by the UToledo Department of Art and the Disability Studies Program, MERGE is on display in the Main Gallery of the UToledo Center for the Visual Arts from Jan. 17 through Feb. 17.
It is free and open to the public.
“The MERGE exhibition demonstrates the creativity that people with disabilities must employ to live in an ableist world,” said Dr. Jim Ferris, UToledo professor and the Ability Center Endowed Chair in Disability Studies. “These young artists were asked to think deeply about how their disability experience interpenetrates their artistic practice. These artists are not successful in spite of disability. They are successful because they use the richness of disability experience to enliven their art.”
The result of a longtime collaboration between the Kennedy Center and Volkswagen Group of America, the national art competition and exhibition gives 15 artists with disabilities, ages 16-25, the opportunity to display their work in venues across the country where each artist’s individual talent, mode of expression and view of the world is showcased and valued.
The traveling exhibition aims to give visibility to the work of artists with disabilities throughout the United States, positioning them to broaden the public’s understanding of disability and the arts.
“We are thrilled to welcome this acclaimed program here in our backyard at The University of Toledo,” said Stuart James, executive director of The Ability Center. “Featuring the finest works from 15 nationally renowned creators with varying disabilities, this exhibition delves into the creative practice and self-expression of emerging artists. Through this initiative, Toledo will be primed to host LEAD, a conference on inclusivity within the arts in 2025.”
For more information about MERGE, go to the Kennedy Center website.
