Eliza Chandler thinks art can lead to social change

Art and culture can lead to practical change for disabled people. Eliza Chandler works in partnership with art galleries, art councils and community groups in the GTA to change the way people think about disability art.

An assistant professor with the School of Disability Studies, Chandler, joined by Dr. Carla Rice, Director of Re•Vision: the Centre for Art and Social Justice at the University of Guelph, is co-leading a $2.5-million project called Bodies in Translation: Activist Art, Technology, and Access to Life.

By blending theories and practices of disability arts, feminist arts, and community arts, this project explores how, and to what end, we can cultivate arts that re-figure how we perceive and appreciate bodies and minds of difference. In partnership with Re•Vision and Tangled Art + Disability, and along with 11 community-based organizations and 12 academic institutions, Bodies in Translation will set in motion a creative and intellectual wave of leading-edge artistic creation research, technological innovation, and critical inquiry within and beyond Ontario.

Chandler’s work is transforming the art community. By challenging the way art is typically created and experienced, we can begin to include people who were previously marginalized by mainstream arts and allow more people to live vital, fulfilled lives.

Eliza Chandler
Assistant Professor, School of Disability Studies, Faculty of Community Services
Co-Director of Bodies in Translation: Activist Art, Technology, and Access to Life (SSHRC-funded Partnership Project)

Sculpture by Persimmon Blackbridge