i think this is great

just a little check in this morning. i'll be posting some more things later on today. but i wanted to quickly show you guys something that i came across this morning. things like this mean a lot to me, my mother was disabled and i feel like women with disabilities, whether they be arthritis, like my mother or like jes in these photos don't get enough positive attention in the media. here's the deal:

""American Able" intends to, through spoof, reveal the ways in which women with disabilities are made invisible in advertising and mass media. I chose American Apparel not just for their notable style, but also for their claims that many of their models are just ‘every day’ women who are employees, friends and fans of the company. However, these women fit particular body types. Their campaigns are highly sexualized and feature women who are generally thin, and who appear to be able-bodied. Women with disabilities go unrepresented, not only in American Apparel advertising, but also in most of popular culture. Rarely, if ever, are women with disabilities portrayed in anything other than an asexual manner, for ‘disabled’ bodies are largely perceived as ‘undesirable.’ In a society where sexuality is created and performed over and over within popular culture, the invisibility of women with disabilities in many ways denies their sexuality, particularly within a public context.

Too often, the pervasive influence of imagery in mass media goes unexamined, consumed en masse by the public. However, this imagery has real, oppressive effects on people who are continuously ‘othered’ by society. The model, Jes Sachse, and I intend to reveal these stories by placing her in a position where women with disabilities are typically excluded.


"American Able" was part of Contacting Toronto, a group exhibit for CONTACT 2010 and showed on over 270 digital screens in 50 Toronto Transit Commission stations in May 2010. It will also be included in the 2011 edition of the famous women's health text, "Our Bodies, Ourselves"."


Additional model credits go to Dana Levine

you can view all the photos from this shoot here!
and i hope you do take a minute to look at these photos and spread the word.

XOXO,
holly