My
response to the Joseph Churchward podcast was to research known artists who
have minor, or major disabilities but continue to produce internationally recognized
work. The podcast lead me to these artists because Joseph Churchward mentions
that when he was in Wellington Technical College, he was chasing someone and he
ran through a glass door, injuring his hand severely and leaving his fingers in
a locked position. When asked if he thought he would lose his hand to the
injury, he replies, "Well I thought I might, but I just completed 604
[typefaces] from a sick hand."
I
immediately thought of Chuck Close and his
disabilities such as Prosopagnosia (or "face blindness", for the people like
myself who couldn't pronounce prosopagnosia), severe dyslexia, and the spinal
artery rupture that left him half paralyzed and wheelchair bound, which lead me
to discover more artists with these kind of restrictions, both mental and
physical conditions.
Click here to view a video of Chuck Close talking about his
prosopagnosia and his "life changing" paralysis, along with his
coping strategies.
During further investigation, I came
across an artist called Stephen Wiltshire, a world famous architectural artist
who has autism savant. His most recent work features an intricate, eighteen
foot wide panoramic landscape of the skyline of New York City, after only
viewing it once during a 20 min helicopter ride.
Peter
Longstaff is an artist who is missing both arms so he paints with his feet.
 |
| Peter Longstaff's Christmas Card painting (I couldn't paint this as beautifully even if I had 10 arms! *sad face*) |
MichaelMonaco is a quadriplegic who paints beautiful, vibrant and natural pieces of art with his mouth. He is a member of The Mouth and Foot Painters Association.
Through
bad fortune, or fate, it is interesting how these artists continue to produce
artwork fuelled by their passion. It makes me think about what would happen if
I lost a limb, became sick or had to deal with any kind of hardship that
disabled me from doing what I've worked hard for. What would you do? Would you
give up your profession to pursue a false dream? Would you make things easier
for yourself and just do what is expected of you? Or would you continue doing
what you do best, despite the radical changes you've encountered?
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