Disabled Artists, get your work shown.

Disabled Artists, get your work shown.

In 1999 a car accident left me with no vision in one eye and 5% low functioning vision in the other. In the small corner of vision I have remaining, I can see light and shadow and color. I picked up my camera and began shooting seriously in 2000. My love of photography began in 1986 in college. My parents bought me a Minolta film camera which I used to learn the basics of photography and how to develop black and white film. Eventually I returned to college to finish my degree in fine art photography and studio art photography. I loved landscape photography and after graduating set out to get my first gallery show. I wanted to share how I see the world with those who are sighted, but that first showing was elusive. It often came down to the fact that gallery curators and those who coordinate art shows would not give me the time of day because they felt there was no way someone who was blind could be a competent photographer – and it frustrated me.

Fast forward a few years and one day I was in a gallery here in Denver where I live, and my wife was explaining the details of a piece of art because I was not able to see them. A gentleman came up to me and sparked up a conversation who I would later learn was the curator of the gallery. We talked about photography and I told him about my work, and he asked me to bring some by for him to look at the following afternoon. I walked out that door with my first solo exhibition scheduled. That exhibition led to local and national newspaper, television, and magazine coverage and numerous articles in photography trade magazines and websites. I feel truly blessed and every day I get the opportunity to show my work I think back to that curator that believed in me, and that I would not be where I am today if not for him. I have wracked my brain to find ways to give back to the disabled artists community, and short of funding a physical gallery, I haven’t come up with a viable option… until now.

Born out of the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, virtual galleries have become a viable solution for artists to exhibit their work, but because everyone is in the same boat in terms of no public showings, competition for virtual gallery space is tough. It is for this reason I have created and launched www.disabledart.com a virtual gallery which features a new disabled artist every 90 days. Unlike other online or virtual galleries, I do not charge anything for artists to exhibit their work. This is not a sales platform, and I am not looking to make a commission off your work. My goal with www.disabledart.com is to provide a platform which disabled artists can use to show their work. After the 90 day exhibition on the front page of www.disabledart.com the work is moved into the past shows/archive page so future visitors will still be able to enjoy the art, The artist is free to include contact information or links to sites where visitors can purchase their work (you set those up on your own). Disabled artists have an opportunity to have their work exhibited on a high traffic platform free of charge.

It is my hope that this new service will give those who are finding it difficult to locate a venue to show their art a place. Artists retain full copyright and license of their work – Disabled Art only needs a license to exhibit your work. We are only accepting submissions from artists who are disabled, and featured artists can show up to 20 images. If you are a disabled artist and would like more information about submitting your work for consideration you can go here. We are open to showing images of any 2D and 3D work, we are not offering video exhibitions at this time. If you have any questions, please feel free to drop me a note here on my contact form.

I am offering show slots for disabled artists though Twitter, my blog and Reddit first before going to the open call route.

I love to hear from my readers, feel free to follow me on my social media links below and let me know what you think about this article. I am happy to follow you back.

My Photography site: http://www.tahquechi.com/

My Bodyscapes project: http://www.bodyscapes.photography/

My travel site: http://www.blindtravels.com/

Instagram and Twitter: @nedskee