Do I Look Fine Now?
A performance art piece by KYRIANNA
Pamphlet handed out during performance
Newspaper article about the performance
This piece is first and foremost intended to challenge one idea: what does a disabled person look like? In America around 1 in 4 adults suffer from at least one chronic physical condition. Where are these people? Is it your mom? Your coworker? Maybe your friend but they’ve never told you. Can you tell if someone is disabled by looking at them? In our society there seems to be an expectation that we can.
KYRIANNA developed an invisible chronic pain condition when she was 12 that limits her physical abilities. She has since worked with many other physically disabled people through her art. “I’ve seen first hand and heard more stories than I can count of the specific challenges those with invisible conditions face - from not being believed by family and friends to being refused life changing medical treatment. I want to bring awareness to our society’s ableist ideas of what a disabled person should or shouldn’t look like.“
In this performance piece, KYRIANNA moves through 10 different locations, starting with those that are most inaccessible to someone with an invisible disability. At each location the artist will have participants gradually manipulate her stereotypical indicators of health (makeup, walking without a mobility aid, even her full head of hair, etc) to challenge what society traditionally associates with “looking disabled”. The participants will be strangers, friends and family, to indicate how these expectations are often placed on individuals from everyone around them. “I want to shed light on how real and difficult invisible disabilities are, and how many smiling people around you may be secretly carrying the weight of a chronic condition."
