Sitting on their Shoulders/legacy…and what if
A photo of a stencil of a woman sitting in a wheelchair, in the stencil we see a shadow of her as if it is a part of her shirt. The wheelchair looks old fashioned. Jessica made this stencil from a photo of Reagan Linton ( actor, director, producer, writer) as she performs her show called FDR’s Drag Show. Read Jessica’s review here.
President Franklin D. Rosevelt had polio and often used a wheelchair. He privately made lots of room for his own disability and for people with disabilities, but publicly would not own it.There were reasons why he barred the press from mentioning his wheelchair. His mother told him as a child to hide his pain and discomfort to not bother his father and of course, there were Ugly Laws on the books… it was not mere vanity. But I think of the many leaders since who came after with disability and how things could have been different if he could have loudly and proudly claimed his access needs.
N.B.: These descriptions were developed from a series of conversations between artist Jessica Skintges Wallach and comedian Lamont Price, The People’s heART’s docent. Sometimes they choose to write these descriptions in one voice and sometimes they choose to highlight their individual thoughts. These pieces are a conversation started and they both are very interested in what you see in them and what they make you think about. Please leave comments below.
Jessica Skintges Wallach, Sitting on their Shoulders/legacy…and what if, 2022. Digital Photograph. ©Jessica Wallach. All rights reserved.
