Access, Hygiene & Quarantine: Chronically Ill Art in the Age of Coronavirus

Chair: Amanda Cachia

Email Address(s): amanda_cachia@hotmail.com

Deadline: September 16

In Spring 2020, the world was gripped/cripped with a deadly and unprecedented pandemic that disabled much of the population across the globe. Suddenly, artists with disabilities, chronic illnesses, autoimmune diseases or respiratory issues were feeling more vulnerable and anxious than ever given their extreme risk for contracting the disease. Forced to go into medical quarantine, many of these artists also faced financial hardship and loss. By the same token, these artists were also able to observe how the general population responded to the merits of virtual access and quarantine in order to instill safe hygiene practices – practices which chronically ill artists have been soliciting for decades, and which are typically ignored by the mainstream. This panel invites contributions by art historians, curators, artists and socially engaged activists regarding the response by non-disabled/disabled and chronically ill/pandemically ill artists to the novel coronavirus. How are notions of access, hygiene and quarantine changed, for better or worse, post coronavirus and how has or will this impact the livelihood of disabled and chronically ill artists and art-making? What are the complexities of living with chronic pain and disability during and after a pandemic? How does one navigate an already fraught care system when the care system is in crisis? Is there a changing and evolving definition of interdependence within this historical moment of mass hysteria towards public health? This panel will examine how temporary pandemonium over a health crisis can have contradictory, chronic and generative applications for marginalized artists.