Interruptions 3: The Social Currency of Voice: Radical Disabled and D/deaf Inclusivity
Image: Performance of 'Equivalence' at Summerhall, Edinburgh. Photo by Rich Dyson. Description: A small stage area with a blackboard. Above the blackboard, a film is projected. There are eight people on-screen of various genders and racial backgrounds, holding colourful books. In the centre of the screen is Bea Webster, who is Scottish-Thai and has long brown hair. A caption appears below her in pink: 'You are in an elevator.' To the left of the screen is live captioning. projected on the wall in yellow: '...Shit. Can any of you do a German accent?'. Underneath the screen on the left, is BSL interpreter Lisa Li. She is a Chinese-Scottish woman sitting on a table, looking up at the screen. She is dressed as a mermaid. To her right stands Sandra Alland, a white person with short brown hair and a walking stick. Sandra's back is to the camera; they are also looking up at the screen.
About Sandra Alland:
Sandra Alland is a Glasgow-based writer, filmmaker and interdisciplinary artist. As co-editor of 2017's Stairs and Whispers: D/deaf and Disabled Poets Write Back, they helped create an accessible and widely-lauded print-/e-anthology with text, visual poetry, audio and video. Using radical inclusion and cross-disability solidarity as guiding factors, Sandra has devised and internationally showcased experimental writing, performance, film, photography, captioning, and audio description. Recent artistic and curatorial commissions include: Viewfinder (Disability Arts Online), Discover (British Council), BFI Flare, The Deaf Poets Society, Oska Bright/GSFF, Transpose (Barbican), Edinburgh Filmhouse/Film Hub Scotland, Protest! (Comma Press), and Canadian Disability Poetics (Frog Hollow/HA&L). Website: www.blissfultimes.ca. Twitter and Instagram: @san_alland
About Bea Webster:
Bea Webster is a mixed-race queer deaf woman living in Glasgow. She graduated from BA Performance in BSL and English at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. Her British Sign Language poetry appears in Stairs and Whispers: D/deaf and Disabled Poets Write Back (film by Sandra Alland and Ania Urbanowska), and her English poetry features in print in Magma Poetry: The Deaf Issue. Theatre credits include Kaite O'Reilly's Peeling, and Red Ladder Theatre's Mother Courage and Her Children, for which she was nominated for Best Actress in a Play at the 2019 Stage Debut Awards. Twitter: @bea_p_webster
6-8.30PM | 13 MARCH 2020
PRESENTATION BY SANDRA ALLAND, WITH VIDEO BY BEA WEBSTER
Sandra and Bea made four short videos for The Social Currency of Voice, which we unfortunately had to cancel as part of the attempts to limit the spread of COVID-19. Although these do not represent the entirety of what the workshop was going to entail, the videos give an overview of many issues regarding radical deaf inclusion (and are really wonderful):
The Social Currency of Voice: Parts 1-4
3- The Value of Visible Access
4- The Deaf Voice and the Deaf ‘Voice’
In British Sign Language and spoken English, with English captions. BSL/English interpreting by K. Yvonne Strain, captions by AB Silvera. Click CC for captions.
Donate to Bea and Sandra at https://www.paypal.me/SanAlland. A portion of proceeds will go to Glasgow Night Shelter for destitute asylum seekers
Event Description:
Join writer and artist Sandra Alland for a presentation on radical inclusivity. In video made for this workshop, deaf writer/performer Bea Webster discusses the creation of welcoming arts spaces and practices. With examples from a range of media, Alland highlights the rich artistic frameworks of disabled and neurodivergent creators. What happens when we consider 'access' integral to creative expression? How does our practice change when we contemplate social privilege from the get-go?
Access info:
Captioned video of Bea Webster in English with some BSL. All other video used in the presentation will be captioned. Portable hearing loop. Live captioning and BSL interpreting of spoken presentation. Spoken descriptions of visual materials. Level entrance to gallery from street; automatic doors. Level access to workshop room via lift. Gender-neutral and wheelchair-accessible toilets. Guide and hearing dogs are welcome. Relaxed event. Please assist us in making this a scent-free environment. There are Blue Badge parking spaces directly at the rear of the building 50 yards from the main entrance. More info at https://www.jhg.art/visit/
