The MIT Disabilities ERG is proud to present a series of events for Disability Employment Awareness Month this October. Join us for a moderated panel discussion between MIT community artists with disabilities. Each will make a short presentation of their work and will discuss their process, themes, and modifications relative to disability. This will be followed by a broader discussion between the artists.

Please register to attend. A Zoom link will be provided closer to the event date.

Speakers:

Gearoid Dolan 

Gearóid Dolan (they/them) is an activist artist from Dublin, Ireland, working in the US under the branded name screaMachine. Their ouevre spans the worlds of performance art, film-making, audio, animation and interactive works, which often all combine in large scale street intervention projects with arrays of video projectors. Known especially for their work with protest movements, Dolan has shown at MOMA-PS1, The Kitchen, Franklin Furnace, Moving Image Gallery, The Storefront for Art and Architecture, Superchief Gallery and many more spaces in NYC as well as numerous galleries and festivals around the world. They taught digital media courses for 20 years in Cooper Union and Hunter College and are a five time winner of the New York State Council on the Arts Film, Media and New Technologies Award, along with awards from Media the Foundation, Experimental Television Center, C.A.S.E., Participatory Safety Inc. and the New York City Artist Corps. Dolan is also known for their costume design and presence in the nightclub scene and has won numerous awards for their feature documentary film “The Biggest Obstacle” which examines accessibility in the New York City Transit system for people with disabilities. thebiggestobstacle.com

Dolan has a degree in sculpture from the National College of Art in Dublin, Ireland and an MFA in Integrated Media Arts (IMA) from Hunter College, NYC. Dolan taught Digital Media courses in Cooper Union NYC for 17 years, followed by Filmmaking and Web Development in Hunter College. Currently, in ACT, Dolan teaches Introduction to Interactive, Participatory, and Generative Art Making in the Fall  semesters and Documentary Film Production in the Spring semesters, along with workshops in projection mapping, motion graphics, audio field recording, darkroom techniques  and a lot more.

Website: www.screaMachine.com

Nelly Kate

Nelly Kate is a studio artist with an expanded practice in sound, expressing its material power through tones, tapes, water, wood, metal, and fiber. Over the past decade, Nelly has experienced fluctuations between late-deafness and hearing. This informs her creative research and practice in slowness, the awkwardness of inclusion, collaboration, and repetition. Her work takes the form of installation, performance, and print. She creates spaces for public imagination and healing, often working with trash, reclaimed, and repurposed materials. Nelly Kate holds an MFA in Print Media from Cranbrook Academy of Art. She is currently a creative director at MIT Spatial Sound Lab, and works in other studios across the unceded land of the Massachusett, Pawtucket, Naumkeag, and Wampanoag nations. www.nellykate.net

Laura Beretsky

Laura Beretsky is an author and community activist based in Somerville, Massachusetts. Her recently published memoir Seizing Control, describes the challenges of living with epilepsy. The book explores the sacrifices we make and risks we take to live—or appear to live—a “normal” life, and gives hope to those who fear their path to fulfillment might be impossible to navigate.

Laura’s work has appeared in WBUR’s Cognoscenti, Health Story Collaborative, Sisyphus, and Wire’s Dream magazines. She is a member of the writing community at GrubStreet, the largest creative writing center in the U.S.

Laura has a BA from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. As a tween, she learned the value of participating in actions that yield community change. These lessons were critical to her journey negotiating seizures and others’ reactions to them, and pushing back against stigmatization. They were also key to her recovery from brain surgeries.

Website: https://lauraberetsky.com/

Moderator Emily Garner

Emily Garner is the Senior Manager, Campus and Public Programs at MIT List Visual Arts Center. As part of this role, is the key instigator for access initiatives for the museum. She organized the 2023 Max Wasserman Forum: Altered Access which brought together artists, educators, and curators to discuss current disability discourse within the arts and museum institutions. Prior to her role at MIT List Visual Arts Center, she lead the Access Initiatives at deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum. 

Ned Wolfe

Ned Wolfe is a GLAAD and GAYMING award-winning cartoonist who makes comics about heroes, health and history. Ned delights in making history accessible through comics, especially the First World War. His favorite dinosaur is the compsognathus. He lives in Cambridge, MA, and can be found in a library or the water.

He can be found on Bluesky and Instagram as @nedlazaruswolfe. Website: https://nedwolfe.com/

Other events in this series

10/6 -Making Inclusion and Accessibility Part of All Your Work with Rachel Tanenhaus 

10/3, 10/7, 10/17 -Festival Henge

10/15 - Building Inclusive Workplace Practices: A talk with Laura Beretsky