Art + Medicine: Disability, Culture and Creativity

Artists and healthcare clinicians create alternative perspectives on disability, through disability, stories and performances, and redefine what we perceive as normal. Hosted by artist and storyteller Kevin Kling, Professor Jessica Horvath Williams, PhD, and Doctor Tsegaensh Selameab. Created in collaboration with the Center for the Art of Medicine at the University of Minnesota Medical School.

Author and artist Adrean Clark uses comics and visual art as a tool for communication, often depicting her life as a Deaf individual, parent and the musings of her beloved cats. Integral in her work is a written form of American Sign Language that she helped develop. This story is a part of Art + Medicine: Disability, Culture and Creativity.

Audio Description track available.

Texture has dictated ceramicist Donna Ray's love for pottery for more than 25 years. As a Blind artist, she is often the only artist in the room with disabilities. She aims to encourage and celebrate fellow artists with disabilities in the visual art world. This story is part of Art + Medicine: Disability, Culture and Creativity.

Audio Description track available.

Actor and Strike Theater Founder Allison Broeren uses “spoon theory” to describe what it’s like to live with an autoimmune disease in her solo show "Fire in My Veins" at Open Eye Theatre. This performance excerpt is a part of Art + Medicine: Disability, Culture and Creativity, a collaboration with the Center for the Art of Medicine at the U of M Medical School.

Audio Description track available

How can changing our perspective teach us new ways of understanding? Artist and Storyteller Kevin Kling performs his story "Perspectives" at the American Swedish Institute for Art + Medicine: Disability, Culture and Creativity.

Audio Description track available.

Poet Said Shaiye performs Heaven is All Goodbyes, but I Hope it’s Soft on identity and life experiences being an Autistic Black man in Minnesota. Performed at the American Swedish Institute for Art + Medicine: Disability, Culture and Creativity, a collaboration between Twin Cities PBS and the Center for the Art of Medicine at the University of Minnesota Medical School.

With Audio Description.

What is Disability Culture? Musician and Disability Activist Gaelynn Lea performs "I Wait" and "Watch the World Unfold" and discusses disability culture in the context of the music industry with fellow artists Stephen Letnes and Gabriel Rodreick. Lea is focused on reframing the cultural conversation around disability to one of a form of diversity that can be celebrated.

With Audio Description.

Medical Student by day and visual artist and VJ Neurite by night, Carmen Aguirre uses art as a tool for kids and adults to talk about mental health. This story is part of "Art + Medicine: Disability, Culture and Creativity," a collaboration with the Center for the Art of Medicine at the University of Minnesota Medical School.

Audio Description track available.

How can you convey multiple ideas in a poem simultaneously? Poet and professor Douglas Kearney layers ideas in his poetry like hip hop artists sample music tracks. A midlife diagnosis of ADHD brought a new appreciation for his fascination with simultaneity, "If certain kinds of poems reflect a mind at work, this is my mind at work."

Audio Description track available.

Physician Michael H. Kim and Assistant Dean for Student Affairs at the University of Minnesota Medical School explains the vital role and advantages of having people with disabilities in healthcare today.

Audio Description track available.

Multidisciplinary Artist Gabriel Rodreick, aka Freaque, on how limitations lead to creativity in his music, performing "Broken Puuppet" with Karl Remus, and dance, at an All Abilities class at Young Dance. This is a part of Art + Medicine: Disabilities, Culture and Creativity.

Audio Description track available.