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notes from the present and the past

ramp access all areas

4th July 2016

I’ve recently been working with new talent. Ali Lapper is three feet tall with shortened legs and no arms.  The walking Piece to Camera is enlivened by being translated to the trundling electric chair, and interview set-up has had to become more dynamic, when there’s a disparity of at least two feet between subject and presenter.

 

But the most interesting aspect of a very interesting project has been the requirement to think differently. Locations have had to be selected not just for architecture and light but also for access. I now can’t enter a building without worrying about ramps and door widths.

 

And the questions. She tells of a Damascene revelation at art school; how did the Venus de Milo come to be regarded as a great beauty, when with almost exactly the same physiognomy, Ali was labeled a freak? And why were some people outraged when a marble statue of Ali, naked and pregnant, was unveiled in Trafalgar Square, given that she was the second disabled hero in the vicinity?

 

needs within my capabilities