Riva Lehrer -- Keeping biography with the body
Monday, October 16th, 2017 11:26 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jesse_the_kRiva Lehrer is a brilliant portrait artist: she weaves her experiences as a disabled-from-birth queer Jewish woman into scores of oils, acrylics, and collages. I first saw some of her "Circle Stories" paintings of disability activists (including a self-portrait) back in 2000, and she credits meeting other disability culture radicals with changing her understanding of the world.
Two portraits from Circle Stories appear in her NYT Disability column published this August, where she reflects on her absence from the art she saw in her childhood:
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/09/opinion/where-all-bodies-are-exquisite.html
In this 45-minute uncaptioned presentation, she explores her encounter with jarred specimens at the Mutter Museum, discusses her relationship with her mother, tells stories about risky collaborations, and shows slides of her work
In a MsFit magazine interview, she explains how the cult of beauty damages those of us with disabilities
http://msfitmag.com/meet-a-ms-fit-artist-riva-lehrer-2/
Her website has no image descriptions, so I'll attempt one of her self-portrait collage, "At 54"
Riva in midair holds a marionette control high with her left hand. The strings attach to actual rivets in her left elbow, both knees and ankles; she wraps some strings around her left arm and grips them in her teeth. She wears calf-high black leather boots with very large, asymmetrical soles, a pink and purple tutu to mid-thighs, her nipples just visible through pink gauze laced vest. She's a small woman with hair dyed red except for a shock of white hair shielding her brow. A background of soft blue-green is both the floor (with Riva's shadow) and the wall: it makes the detailed life-colored painting pop out at the viewer.
Two portraits from Circle Stories appear in her NYT Disability column published this August, where she reflects on her absence from the art she saw in her childhood:
begin quote
Growing up, I’d seen plenty of medical illustrations and freak show posters. The only images of the contemporary disabled body I’d ever seen were by photographers who used disabled subjects as avatars of psychological disturbance, such as found in the work of Joel-Peter Witkin. Creatures of suffering and sin. Monster imagery that taught me that I was a monster. I never saw work that depicted the beauty of disabled people, unless it was a trite and sappy form of beauty. (God preserve me from Inspiring Monuments to the Human Spirit.) With this new group [of disabled artists building disabled culture], I was for the first time seeing disabled bodies as unexpected and charming and exciting. Each one stretched the boundaries of what it meant to be human. They made the world big enough to include me.
quote ends
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/09/opinion/where-all-bodies-are-exquisite.html
In this 45-minute uncaptioned presentation, she explores her encounter with jarred specimens at the Mutter Museum, discusses her relationship with her mother, tells stories about risky collaborations, and shows slides of her work
In a MsFit magazine interview, she explains how the cult of beauty damages those of us with disabilities
begin quote
“The people I work with are often frightened to be depicted. They have been told over and over that they are ugly and deformed and unacceptable and need to be fixed and should be hidden. I give a lot of power over to the subject. It’s really important that my work not replicate the damaging history that so many of us have been through.
“This is why honesty and accuracy matter. I want these pieces to be as transformative as they can be, and if I don’t depict my subjects to the best of my ability, if I am not being honest, then the piece crumbles into something negligible and unimportant.
quote ends
http://msfitmag.com/meet-a-ms-fit-artist-riva-lehrer-2/
Her website has no image descriptions, so I'll attempt one of her self-portrait collage, "At 54"
Riva in midair holds a marionette control high with her left hand. The strings attach to actual rivets in her left elbow, both knees and ankles; she wraps some strings around her left arm and grips them in her teeth. She wears calf-high black leather boots with very large, asymmetrical soles, a pink and purple tutu to mid-thighs, her nipples just visible through pink gauze laced vest. She's a small woman with hair dyed red except for a shock of white hair shielding her brow. A background of soft blue-green is both the floor (with Riva's shadow) and the wall: it makes the detailed life-colored painting pop out at the viewer.
(no subject)
Date: 2017-10-16 07:15 pm (UTC)That's really excellent.
(no subject)
Date: 2017-10-16 10:09 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2017-10-16 11:21 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2017-10-17 02:41 pm (UTC)