Stories

Art, activism and access

  • Series
Photographic portrait of a young person seated outside in a electric wheelchair looking to camera. Behind them are long grasses and shrubs lit from behind by a low sun.
Jamie Hale, Camilla Greenwell. Source: Wellcome Collection. Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0).

The disability arts scene seems to be blossoming right now, and Jamie Hale is excited. As a disabled artist and activist, they want to investigate the interactions between disability and technology, access and art, and discover ways to make their own work more inclusive. In conversation with fellow artists, Jamie explores the places where accessibility and creativity collide, and asks whether technology should be used to cure and mitigate, or to truly break barriers.

Photograph of a woman as she instructs a male performer as he performs an upside down theatrical manoeuvre within a large metal hoop suspended from the ceiling during a rehearsal. The performer in the hoop has a prosthetic right leg.
  • Article
Acting, disableism and inclusive theatre

Deaf theatre director Jenny Sealey discusses inclusivity, community and the resilience of disabled actors.

Photograph of a whitewashed brick wall where the paint is flaking in places. Hung on the wall are two artworks. The artwork on the left is a large square oil painting on canvas, depicting an abstract landscape made up of textured brush strokes in blue, yellow and purple hues. The artwork on the right is framed in a simple white frame and depicts a digital artwork of a tree with swirling branches, green leaves dotted between the branches seemingly in mid air. The sky is a light green hue and a golden yellow sun radiates in the top right corner. At the base of the artwork is a line of distant green hills.
  • Article
Talent, tech and visual art

Jamie Hale finds a combination of talent and technology are crucial when it comes to creating great visual art, but how do you keep working when your circumstances are in constant flux?

Black and white photograph with a warm tone. The image shows a young woman seated in a wheelchair against a black curtain and lit by a spotlight. She is performing to an audience. She has been captured 'in action'.
  • Article
Disabled musicians and the fight to perform

Music might be the universal language, but unfortunately it doesn’t come with universal access. London-based artist Miss Jacqui discusses the barriers to her career with Jamie Hale.

Photograph showing a performer on a stage in a small theatre. The performer is dressed in a shiny gold suit. Their right hand is holding a microphone to their mouth. In their left hand they are holding a white cane. Their mouth and eye brows are covered in blue glitter make-up
  • Article
The politics and power of audio-description

Traditional theatre audio-description often lets down artists and audiences. But, done well, it has the potential to be a force for creativity as well as accessibility.

About the author

Photograph of Jamie Hale

Jamie Hale

@jamierhale on Twitter

Jamie Hale is a poet, writer and researcher based in London. Their work explores the embodiment of queer, trans and disabled experience, the meaning of disability, and the reality of life with severe impairments and gender dysphoria. Jamie has written for a number of publications, including the Guardian and the New Statesman, and has performed as a poet at the Barbican Theatre, London, and Tate Modern, among other venues.