CHAMPAIGN — A new exhibition opening this week is putting people with disabilities in the spotlight.
“Able in CU” is a project featuring eight charcoal portraits including two self-portraits and six individual portraits by artist Shauri Gonzalez. She said her goal was to celebrate the resilience of people with disabilities.
“Instead of it being a project describing everybody’s struggles, it’s actually describing everybody’s successes and how they keep moving forward within the community, even with disabilities,” Gonzalez explained.
She said she partnered with the Developmental Services Center to find volunteers with a range of disabilities and then interviewed each volunteer to understand how they see themselves and their disability.
“I was actually really impressed by everybody’s responses,” Gonzalez added. “I wasn’t expecting all these individuals to have such positive feedback about themselves and their disabilities and their experiences.”
She asked each volunteer how they wanted to be portrayed and what message they hoped to share. Some chose to be shown with mobility aids like crutches and wheelchairs. Others asked to be portrayed simply for their essence and positivity.
“One individual is a big sports guy, and he really wanted a portrait of him holding a medal because even with his mobility issues, the DSC helps him and others still participate in sports and win medals,” she said.
The idea for “Able in CU” was inspired by a portrait Gonzalez created of herself, titled “Longing”, which depicts herself using a walker. Gonzalez was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis while she was a student at the University of Illinois, which has impacted her mobility.
The piece was featured in the “Around the Block” exhibition at Parkland Community College last year. Gonzalez said seeing herself portrayed with her mobility aid in a gallery setting pushed her to create space for other disabled people in Champaign-Urbana to be represented as well.
“Portraits in history have always been known for depicting very famous people or royalty or something that matters,” she said. “But why can’t somebody with a wheelchair or a cane be depicted in a self-portrait?”
Gonzalez applied for a grant from 40 North and the Illinois Arts Council last winter. After securing funding, she worked with the DSC to line up a gallery space and recruit volunteers.
The exhibit opens August 1 at The Crow at 110 at the DSC in Champaign, with additional dates on August 5 and August 15.
Gonzalez said she hopes the exhibit inspires compassion and understanding for the disabled community in Champaign-Urbana.
“Disability is a wide range of viewpoints,” she said. “Everybody has something different to say about their own disability and their own capabilities, and it’s one of those things where we should share more compassion with one another, and have more acceptance to your fellow stranger.”