Karen

2 images of Karen next to the words, Iam angry about exclusion, disability discrimination, gender inequality and ableism. I am empowered by creativity, connection, independence and feminism.
Flipping the view on power 

Power operates to limit and exclude and can also be experienced as personal energy and strength. 

These experiences coexist in daily life. This is signalled by the words on the panels, which are part of the work.
Karen sits alone in her wheelchair wearing black and a large orange scarf, surrounded by architecture in Sydney CBD
Imposing structures

A solitary disabled woman surrounded by imposing city structures, looking small. Immediately behind her but out of view, there are stairs. The architecture here represents power: historic, structural.

Why are disabled women not more visible in public life? There remain many access challenges in the built environment. The photograph is making a statement about visibility, yet there remains a pervasive sense of inequality.
A portrait of Karen behind a sheet of material that reads Power.
The distance between me and you

Inequality and power imbalances: a barrier, a veil, a web of norms, a wall. 
Structures that, while shifting, can create a gulf of separation for disabled women, keeping us apart, perceived as 
‘the other’. 
While the barriers in the images are material, they also represent attitudes, stereotypes, and limiting assumptions.
Karen and a friend chatting together at a fair
The point at which we meet

This image shows a younger woman and an older woman in discussion. We recognise ourselves in the other, each a force to be reckoned with. 
There is no sense of difference here, just our strength and connection as women.
Karen, alone and still in her wheelchair in a crowded space, with movement all around her
Visible to the public eye

Disabled women have active lives in the community, but can be missing from images, or represented in stereotypes. 
What is unseen can be forgotten. I’m interested in conveying our visibility in the public space. Here, the eye is drawn to the wheelchair user, a still point in a moving scene. 
To me, the photograph is about being present, independent and naturally part of the crowd.

Bronze stairs behind a glass panel, reflecting Karen's wheelchair
I am reflected behind the stairs

Although they take me nowhere, I have often photographed stairs. This photograph was taken with my phone, hence its blurry quality. 

My identity as a photographer is embedded in the reflected image, hidden within and around the central inaccessible architectural feature. To the right is my hand driving the wheelchair. Only just visible, but definitely in control.
2 wheelchair users on a curved pathway
Out where we belong

This image is on the theme of visibility. My intention was to photograph disabled women in public settings and create images to record our participation in ordinary community life.
Karen at Sydney airport sitting in her wheelchair next to the words LOOK on the ground
Look at me

As a disabled woman, I am often aware that people stare at me in public. Although I am also desensitised to it and it can be that an accompanying friend who will notice stares/attention more than me. 

Strangers notice our difference, as visibly disabled people. Yet, we still experience having our access needs ignored or forgotten, as though our presence is not expected. The photograph is saying well, ‘here I am, look’. It is about claiming our rightful space.
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