Weave In, Weave Out: A Disability Socially Engaged Art Exhibition
Curated by Amanda Cachia with Intertwine Arts
An image of four artists sat around a SAORI Loom in a gallery space, with a colorful striped weaving super-imposed onto the background. The words ‘Weave In, Weave Out’ are written in White letters
Combining performance, installation, and live social sculpture, Weave In, Weave Out is a major exhibition hosted by Positive Exposure of site-specific fiber work by contemporary disabled artists from Intertwine Arts. The title of the exhibition alludes to the spatial nature of the exhibition, where visitors are encouraged to come and go within the space, or drop in or out, over the two-month duration that the gallery has become a live social sculpture, or a socially engaged art practice. Intertwine Arts is a non-profit organization based in New York which brings free-form weaving to people of all ages with developmental, mental and physical disabilities and chronic illness. The mission of Intertwine Arts is that weaving is for everyone, and that fiber arts should be accessible, which also ascribes to the principles of disability justice. The Disability Justice movement is a social justice movement developed in 2005 by the Disability Justice Collective that included Patty Berne, Stacey Milbern and Leroy Moore. Many of the looms that artists from Intertwine Arts use have been designed with accessible modifications to meet the needs of crip time and the unique capacities that disabled embodiment brings. While the work of Intertwine Arts is not clinically-driven, such as art therapy-based interventions, there is a shared and mutual understanding of the holistic and generative benefits that weaving offers, where it fosters creativity and independence, increases feelings of self-worth and satisfaction, and offers opportunities for unique expressions of memories, lived experiences, and the imagination. The organization facilitates art-weaving workshops with organizations that include AHRC, Visions, HeartShare, IAHD and the YAI Without Walls program.
The exhibition is open for appointment where visitors can engage in learning how to weave at the loom while working alongside Intertwine artists in the gallery space. The exhibition is also accompanied by accessible features, including live-streaming for those who wish to participate in weaving and observing virtually, a dedicated webpage for audiences at home, and performative image descriptions of works as weavings are made in-situ.