Welcome to My Exhibit At Massachusetts General Hospital

I am thrilled that my work, The Body is Good, is on exhibit at Massachusetts General Hospital. I want to thank The People’s Heart, Massachusetts General Hospital Disability Counsel, Boston Disability Commission, and The Center for Visual Arts in Healthcare at Brigham and Women’s Hospital for their generous support for this collection. The images will be display on many walls throughout MGH: this link will bring you to a map to see where they are. You can view the photos that are a part of this exhibit and read descriptions of the images by clicking on this link.

On August 26th I gave a talk about this work, what I said is below:

I’m coming out…I want the world to know that….

A colorful bubble with the blind/low vision symbol of a person with a cane superimposed on it.

All of me/Disability Joy

Many silhouettes of Jessica in all her splendor.

Sustained by Water

A photo of the neurodivergent symbol. This symbol is the profile of a person highlighting the brain. Inside the brain is moving water with small bubbles.

Breathing In What’s Mine

A cacophony of colors, lines and glitter swirling in a woman’s head highlighting especially her hair.

Thinking about Accessibility

Photograph of a shape of a girl’s profile embossed with the texture and pattern of a curb cut.

In Constant Motion, Away we go

The new accessibility symbol filled with an Afghani rug.

Sitting on their Shoulders/legacy…and what if

A photo of a stencil of a woman sitting in a wheelchair,  in the stencil we see a shadow of her as if it is a part of her shirt.

Just skin

A stencil of Jessica standing in profile with hands stretched out above her head as if she is in second position for ballet, feet wide, arms making a circle above her head.

Support

This project is to help all of us to remember that our bodies are good, that they work. We may have noticed some time between birth until now that our bodies are fabulous – but there's lots of times when we are at war with our bodies. That somehow it is just not right.

Everywhere we go 

Everywhere we go it is likely that there will be something to remind us that society thinks our bodies – particularly our disabled bodies, are black, brown, queer disabled bodies, trans disabled bodies, our young disabled bodies, our old disabled bodies, our female disabled bodies, are male disabled bodies, there is something wrong, very wrong with us. The worst of these messages are that we would be better off dead than disabled. For many of us it's an upward battle, a daily struggle, to notice that there is something good or benign about our bodies. 

Medical Spaces

Often when we walk into medical space, it is assumed simply because we are disabled, we are unhealthy. And that we are here to see if we are going to be more disabled or not or that we want to get rid of our disability or fix it. When the reality is that many things that happen with our health, that bring us through these doors, have nothing to do with whatever conditions create our disability. 

When we come into medical spaces we are bombarded with messages about how everybody should be, what is normal, and all that could be wrong with us.  It is easy for us to forget that our bodies are anything but a problem. 

So it would be helpful if the space and professionals around us welcomed us, celebrated us and does not see us as wrong.

Reminder

The artwork is a reminder, a baseline that bodies are good regardless of whatever health condition brought us to the hospital. 

I want us to be able to keep our minds about ourselves as we enter a doctor appointments and I want us to know deep in our bones we are partners in our own healthcare.

Hope for Artwork

I hope that my artwork welcomes people. That it invites and enables people to keep the focus on their body and what they  came here for.  And they will be more ready to partner with thier medical team, state their access needs and design doable health plans…. it is not the answer to Health Equity, but it is a part of the solution. The body is good is to support all of us in REMEMBERING our bodies are good and it is a CONTRACT that says I will respect my body and I will respect your body.