Whether in theory or practice, the relationship between artmaking, creativity, labour and economics is complex. How can artistic practice be best supported and sustainable as a vocation? A rising in the east asks this question with an important dimension: the show considers how disability fits into the equation.
A rising in the east is a collaboration between Perth Festival, DADAA gallery and studio (Disability in the Arts, Disadvantage in the Arts, Australia), and four Japanese arts and disability organisations. Eleven Japanese artists feature, working across textiles, works on paper, books and illustration. The show emphasises, as DADAA executive director David Doyle says, “the incredible possibilities that can open up for artists and makers with lived experience of disability when the necessary time, support and resources are invested”.
The exhibition’s mission goes beyond displaying artistic talent, showcasing Japanese approaches towards disability in the arts. “Japanese arts and disability is predicated on a significant investment in artistic labour,” says Doyle.
A common theme of the works is a forensic attention to detail—and the focus that demands. “What captured our attention when first viewing potential works… was the extent to which the investment of time was so evident,” says arts services director at DADAA, Chris Williams. “The seemingly painstaking repetition of marks in works such as Katsuyoshi Takenaka’s Wood Tower, 2024, are at once awe-inspiring and beautiful, showing a labour and an internal drive to create.”
The exhibition’s mission goes beyond displaying artistic talent, showcasing Japanese approaches towards disability in the arts. “Japanese arts and disability is predicated on a significant investment in artistic labour,” says Doyle. “Artistic practice is work, work that is of value, and there are alternatives to Australia’s supported employment programs for people with disabilities like the sheltered workshop model, which is flawed compared to Japanese models.” Sheltered workshops provide employment for people with a disability, but are often segregated from the wider workforce. Doyle instead advocates for a studio model that is more “artist-driven and studio production-based”.
A rising in the east
DADAA (as part of Perth Festival)
On now—20 April
This article was originally published in the March/April 2024 print edition of Art Guide Australia.
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