Reimagining Disability Narratives through Artistic Practice
A Lecture by A. Laura Brody

ADMISSION & CAMPUS ACCESS:
Admission is free. Reservations are required. Campus access is limited to registered guests and USC students, staff, and faculty with current USC ID.

RSVP

DESCRIPTION:
The day before the exhibition Opulent Mobility opens at USC’s Hoyt Gallery on the Health Sciences Campus, artist and curator A. Laura Brody will discuss how conventional narratives around disability and chronic illness can be engaged and reimagined through artistic practice. From the history of adorning assistive devices such as wheelchairs and canes to contemporary artistic practices, Brody will help us imagine a world defined by disability-centered ethics and aesthetics.

Live ASL translation will be provided.

A. Laura Brody is an artist and curator who sculpts for the human body and its vehicles. She founded and co-curates Opulent Mobility, a series of exhibits that reimagine disability and chronic illness as opulent and powerful. Her art has been shown at the Ikouii Creative, ACE/121 Gallery, Brea Gallery, Charles River Museum of Industry, Westbeth Center for the Arts, California State University at Northridge, Gallery Expo, Dora Stern Gallery at Arts Unbound, and World of WearableArt. Brody works as a professional costume maker and designer, an artist, and an educator. She is passionate about reuse, sustainability, and reimagining disability and chronic illness.

Related events:

Opulent Mobility: Opening Panel & Reception
Wednesday, September 25, 2024, at 12 p.m.
Mayer Auditorium, Health Sciences Campus
For more info, click HERE.

Opulent Mobility Art Exhibition
Wednesday, September 25 to Friday, October 25, 2024
Hoyt Gallery, Health Sciences Campus
For more info, click HERE.

Gender, Queerness, Disability, and the Arts
A Conversation with A. Laura Brody and Brontë Grimm
Tuesday, October 1, 2024, at 11 a.m.
Taper Hall 309K
For more info, click HERE.

Presented by USC Visions and Voices. Organized by Pamela Schaff (Medical Education, Family Medicine, and Pediatrics), Julie Van Dam (French and Italian), Erika Wright (Medical Education and English), Sabrina Derrington (Pediatrics), and Ron Ben-Ari (Internal Medicine and Medical Education). Co-sponsored by the Keck School of Medicine’s HEAL (Humanities, Ethics, Art, and Law) Program and the Center for Bioethics at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles.

Art: 
A. Laura Brody, Driven, 2009
Redesigned 2015. 
Electric wheelchair, reused textiles, and hardware, 45” x 36” x 45”
Photo: Heidi Marie

A. Laura Brody, Kali Walker, 2017
Aluminum walker, PVC frame, and reused textiles and notions, 72’ x 54’ x 42”
Photo: Heidi Marie