“It was a different world altogether”: A Trip Through BEING Studio’s Archive

About the Exhibition

BEING Studio is an arts studio in Ottawa, Ontario that supports artists with developmental disabilities. Opening its doors in 2002, the Studio holds a vast archive of artwork, artist writing, and ephemera. In the summer of 2022, BEING Studio artists Analisa Kiskis (external link) , Jess Huggett (external link) , Claire Nedzela (external link) , Mike Hinchcliff (external link) , Anna Coloumbe (external link) , André Lanthier (external link) , and Christine Maveety (external link) , set out to explore the archive with friends Rachel Gray, fin-xuan, Esther Ignagni, Michael Orsini, Rana El Kadi, Lisa East, Drew McEwan, and Eliza Chandler. BEING’s archive is unique; rather than disabled people being erased from this archive, as is often the case, we are at the centre. 

We uncovered many stories in the archive. These stories are important to the history of BEING Studio, how it has changed over the years, and how we feel about these changes. We share about how many of the artists working at the Studio felt like family and the Studio itself felt like home. We also discovered stories that are integral to understanding the history of disability arts, stories about the legacy of artists with developmental disabilities, and stories about how shifting cultural understandings of disability over the past 23 years have affected the lives of disabled people.

Through an eclectic collection of art and artifacts, from sculptures, to paint chips, to newspaper clippings, you will encounter all of these stories from our perspective. As Rachel Gray says in the audio documentary featured in this exhibit, “It all comes out in the archive.”

This exhibition is a partnership with Tangled Arts + Disability, BEING Studio, and the School of Disability Studies.