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Tilting
Digital archival print. 16” x 20”. 2019. Website: http://diannatemple.com/ Ohio, USA VO by McKerrin Kelly |
Wheelchair Tornado 6
Digital archival print. 20” x 16”. 2019. |
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Erase
Digital archival print. 20" x 16". 2019. |
Wheelchair Tornado 2
Digital archival print. 16" x 20". 2019. |
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Wheel Marks
Digital archival print. 16" x 20". 2019. |
STATEMENT:
The clinical gaze perpetuates otherness; in the hands of a doctor, the camera takes authority over the body. In the early twentieth century, people with disabilities were photographed and studied to build the foundation of our medical system. Images of the disabled became private and shameful. Eventually, tropes derived from the clinical gaze, which depicted disability as tragic or over-emphasized ability, generating inspiration porn. Making Wheelchair Tornadoes is a photographic series that challenges this representation of the body perpetuated by the clinical gaze.
As an able-bodied photographer and occupational therapist, I reject the clinical gaze in an attempt to see the social constructions of disability in our world. I aim to create imagery that can build new conversations that are inclusive of people with disabilities. My friend Matt Ebert and I make wheelchair tornadoes to reframe the representation, authority, and clinical role of the photographer and the camera. Recording Matt’s performances, we produce tableau images using long exposures that resist the overtly conscious documentary style that asserts truth or tragedy. Matt’s blurring motion, exaggerated by the camera, interrupts the clinical gaze and uncovers the ambiguity of the photograph, which cannot diagnose, empathize, or inspire.
As an able-bodied photographer and occupational therapist, I reject the clinical gaze in an attempt to see the social constructions of disability in our world. I aim to create imagery that can build new conversations that are inclusive of people with disabilities. My friend Matt Ebert and I make wheelchair tornadoes to reframe the representation, authority, and clinical role of the photographer and the camera. Recording Matt’s performances, we produce tableau images using long exposures that resist the overtly conscious documentary style that asserts truth or tragedy. Matt’s blurring motion, exaggerated by the camera, interrupts the clinical gaze and uncovers the ambiguity of the photograph, which cannot diagnose, empathize, or inspire.
BIO:
Dianna Temple is both a working artist and an occupational therapist. She has a bachelor’s degree in Fine Art from Bowling Green State University and an Occupational Therapy Doctorate from the University of Toledo. Her current work explores environmental and social landscapes within two separate themes of agriculture and disability studies. She is now an MFA Candidate obtaining her master’s degree in Visual Studies from the University of Missouri and is teaching Beginning Photography 2600 as a graduate instructor.
DESCRIPTIONS:
Tilting
A black and white image of a power wheelchair base sits on a dark hardwood floor. The top of the chair blurs in a half circle as it tilts back and forth above the base. In the background is a dark shadow on the left and a kitchen on the right.
Wheelchair Tornado 6
A man sits in a whirling power wheelchair on a concrete surface in front of tall leafy trees. His body and the chair form an indistinct tornado shape. His head is clearly visible in profile, facing right.
Erase
A man in an open-neck shirt and suit sits in a spinning power chair on a concrete surface. The man’s head is faintly visible and his leg and feet are in clear focus. Blurred circular pale white lines cover his torso. In the background are tall, leafy trees.
Wheelchair Tornado 2
In the distance, a dark figure in a wheelchair sits on a gently curving wide walk beneath a freeway overpass. The figure is just shy of the shade cast by the ribbed concrete span. Two round lights on the overpass glow on the walk, which is edged by indistinct foliage and rocks. A portion of the Y-shaped support appears in the upper left corner.
Wheel Marks
Parallel impressions of wheelchair tires leave curved tracks in grass.
-descriptions by Teri Grossman
A black and white image of a power wheelchair base sits on a dark hardwood floor. The top of the chair blurs in a half circle as it tilts back and forth above the base. In the background is a dark shadow on the left and a kitchen on the right.
Wheelchair Tornado 6
A man sits in a whirling power wheelchair on a concrete surface in front of tall leafy trees. His body and the chair form an indistinct tornado shape. His head is clearly visible in profile, facing right.
Erase
A man in an open-neck shirt and suit sits in a spinning power chair on a concrete surface. The man’s head is faintly visible and his leg and feet are in clear focus. Blurred circular pale white lines cover his torso. In the background are tall, leafy trees.
Wheelchair Tornado 2
In the distance, a dark figure in a wheelchair sits on a gently curving wide walk beneath a freeway overpass. The figure is just shy of the shade cast by the ribbed concrete span. Two round lights on the overpass glow on the walk, which is edged by indistinct foliage and rocks. A portion of the Y-shaped support appears in the upper left corner.
Wheel Marks
Parallel impressions of wheelchair tires leave curved tracks in grass.
-descriptions by Teri Grossman
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Opulent Mobility by A. Laura Brody is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License
The Opulent Mobility license refers to the exhibit and its audio descriptions. Individual artworks are the property of the individual artists.