The Peoples’ heART (Health Equity x Art) is a project dedicated to exploring health equity and addressing health disparities through art. By curating art installations in healthcare spaces in partnership with area communities, they are able to highlight relevant topics in equity and use art and design to reimagine healthcare. The Body Works highlights prints from two Peoples’ heART projects: Jessica Skintges Wallach’s series The Body is Good and Darlene Devita and Sarah Putnam’s People of Chelsea.
The Body Is Good is an invitation to reimagine space as a love letter to the body. Jessica’s artwork explores the lived experiences of being disabled in the 21st century as a way of creating a love letter to the body. By modifying the frame of her lens with handcrafted stencils she draws our attention to everyday objects and creates fluidity by superimposing the stencils onto large, colorful soap bubbles. Her work calls us to challenge our perceptions. “I want people to remember that the body, in all its diversity and complexity, is good,” says the artist.
The People of Chelsea project was born from a deep love of the city just across the harbor. Photographer Darlene DeVita and writer Sarah Putnam teamed up to pay homage to those who make the city work every day, across ages, experiences, and languages. The project provides a meaningful departure from the disaster-oriented media narratives about Chelsea. Through strong local collaborations, we celebrate a community that is so much more than its pandemic losses: a Chelsea that is resilient, creative, courageous and just.
Accessibility@Broad and the IDEA office will host a reception with the curators on Wednesday, October 30 at 4:00 PM in the connector. All are welcome.
Image caption: Jessica Skintges Wallach, All of me/Disability Joy, 2022.
About the curators:
The Peoples’ heART (Health Equity x Art) is a project dedicated to exploring health equity and addressing health disparities through art. Seeking to reimagine healthcare spaces using art and design, their mission is to create spaces that better reflect and serve the rich diversity of patients, staff, and community in a healthcare setting. Based at Massachusetts General Hospital, The Peoples’ heART strives to work beyond the walls of the hospital. They partner with community organizations and individuals to bring art installations to hospital and clinic settings and the communities they serve.
About the artists:
Jessica Skintges Wallach is a Washington, DC-based photographer, educator, and accessibility consultant. She is an artist with a disability, and a disabled artist. With a background in portrait photography, she has recently entered the fine art scene, leveraging her disability as both subject and focus. In her project, The Body is Good, she aims to transform all spaces, particularly healthcare spaces, into affirming environments for all bodies. Utilizing her Canon camera and Samsung phone as artistic tools, Jessica incorporates stencils into her compositions to explore themes of human experience and mobility. Starting with existing designs and now creating her own, she overlays these stencils with everyday objects and incorporates them into vibrant, colorful imagery, often featuring large soap bubbles.
Darlene Devita is a photographer and resident of Chelsea, MA.
Sarah Putnam is a freelance photographer and writer.
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