Disabilities are a combination of factors in people’s lives that cause limitations in their activities or hinder their lives due to psychological, mental, intellectual, cognitive, developmental, or sensory function or structure problems. People with such disabilities used to be excluded from various activities because they had physical defects compared to ordinary people. Artistic activities were no exception. Bang Gui-hee, CEO of the Korea Disabled Artists Association, states that this was because it was prevalent not to see the art of disabled artists as a creation but merely to think of it as a hobby or a means of rehabilitation.

A 2008 survey on disabled artists conducted by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism was not a survey on disabled artists, but rather on the whole disabled population, and the focus was the disabled people’s cultural and artistic activities. Bang added that the survey is interpreted as an attempt to exclude disabled artists from the art world at a time when it is important to understand the situation and establish policies for them.

In response to these social demands, support and awareness for disabled artists is changing step by step. The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism announced in July that the first Disabled Arts Support Committee was launched to support disabled artists’ cultural and artistic activities. The committee will deliberate on major matters concerning support and establish basic plans to promote activities, such as exhibitions and performances, job support, and access to cultural facilities. Currently, due to the prolonged COVID-19, only online exhibitions are available on the committee’s official website. I would like to introduce some impressive works that I have seen on the website.

고독[51] (Solitude), 2006, 116.0cm x 89.0cm / oil on canvas

This painting is by Kim Dong-Sook, who suffers from infantile paralysis. The characters and the statue are not facing us, but they look natural and relaxed because they seem to be enjoying their own relaxation from a warm background. It is a hopeful work that reminds many people who are currently living busy lives in COVID-19 of a leisurable weekend afternoon without masks.

환희 (Delight), 2010, 65.2cm x 45.4cm / oil on canvas

This work is by artist Choi Park Jin, who suffers from auditory and language disorder. In this picture, cherry blossoms are blooming on a bright spring day and the insects are hovering around them. What’s impressive is that the artist tried to express the movement of objects in the painting. Petals that sway naturally in the wind and bees flying around are dynamically depicted.

It is not just the government support that we can see in the new atmosphere. The company ‘THISABLED’ is a foundation for 39 developmentally disabled artists to continue their artistic activities through merchandise production and exhibition, and for disabled artists to become socially and economically independent. THISABLED aims to introduce disabled art culture in art, music, videos, and products that are easily found in daily life. Last April, the painter Yang Si-Young from THISABLED, who lives with a developmental disability, and the singer Big Naughty from H1GHR MUSIC collaborated. They released a collaboration video, and the storyline of it was interesting.

BIG Naughty X THISABLED Collaboration Film, 2021, 4:27

In the video, Yang was passing by a hardware store and found a wall clean enough for a painting. He painted a picture of himself and the background, but he found out the next day that someone wrote the phrase ‘out’ on his artwork, which made him feel depressed. Big Naughty also passes the same place and decides to add more graffiti to this work about youth, love, and dreams. He uses spray paint to add his graffiti to the work, adding completeness to a new piece of art. The video ends with Yang coming back to the place and facing a new work. Through this video, Yang shows off his ability to reinterpret objects or people around him from his perspective, and Big Naughty, who is interested in art, supports Yang’s work. The video also shows the situation of the hardship disabled artists are facing in Korea. Their artwork has been shunned by people who do not understand their views, and the video shows that THISABLED is a supportive organization about this point.

Left: 늙은 호박 (Old Pumpkin), 2017, 69cm x 69cm, watercolor on oriental paper

Right: 해바라기-환희 (Sunflower-Delight), 2019, 50cm x 70cm, watercolor on oriental paper

Looking for more of Yang’s work, I found out that his work is usually of flowers. What do you think is the key point of a flower? Many people would talk about the petals. They remember flowers as the color of their petals, so they are the identity of flowers. Yang, however, tends to focus on the pistil (the center of the flower) and describe it in more detail. The pistil of a flower is an important part of the flower’s reproduction, and also a place for bees’ lives as they get honey from there. He seems to emphasize the pistil in each piece because he considers it the most important part. I think this contributes to his view of art that was out of the public’s perspective, making him more special.

Art for the disabled is not just for a hobby or rehabilitation, but also for a new form of art. As we have a slightly different lifestyle from them, they have a new and creative eye which can catch our interest. Through this article, I hope more people could have a chance to empathize with the needs of disabled artists.

Chung Yeongyu  ygchung00@naver.com

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