Elle Cota, Spectrum Editor
A textbook can explain the body, but it cannot contain every experience of living in one. Through color, texture and form, artists communicate what words alone often cannot.
“Embodied Knowledge,” a juried exhibition at VCU Health Sciences Library, brings together work that explores the perspectives of disabled artists’ work reflecting experiences of illness, disability, healthcare and survival.
The title “Embodied Knowledge,” reflects the understanding people develop through navigating healthcare, including the trial and error involved in finding care teams that listen to and understand them.
Xavier McDaniel, a senior painting and printmaking student and arts and social programming director for VCU’s Disability Advocacy and Accessibility Caucus, curated the exhibition.
“It’s important to highlight that disabled is an umbrella term and that there are many people out there who don’t consider themselves disabled,” McDaniel said. “I always include, ‘Are you neurodivergent? Do you have a chronic condition? Chronic illness?’ Like all of those things fit within this term of being disabled.”
The open call attracted 44 artists from the Richmond community, each having the opportunity to submit three pieces. The final exhibition features 19 works.
McDaniel said he wanted the space to encourage people’s engagement with what the artists are communicating. He wanted to avoid tokenism by emphasizing what disabled artists communicate through their work, rather than including them solely because of their identities.
“Not only should they be seen, they should be heard and valued,” McDaniel said.
McDaniel said he acknowledges the importance of books, artist biographies and writing by disabled people, but that viewing artwork offers a different experience because viewers can sit with it, return to it and continue thinking about it.
McDaniel initially expected the exhibition to include more sad artwork, but said he was surprised by how celebratory many of the submissions were. He said that seeing the range of work changed his perspective and made him wonder how encountering the work might affect people who are not disabled or do not work in the arts.
McDaniel offered flexible artwork drop-off arrangements, framing assistance and help with installation to make the submission and exhibition process more accessible for artists. He made sure to bring together different identities, experiences and artistic backgrounds for the juroring process.
Each juror anonymously reviewed the pieces and only one work per artist was allowed to avoid one artist receiving multiple rankings at the expense of other artists.
The exhibition included Best in Show, second place, third place and honorable mention awards. Community organizations including SCRAP RVA, Visual Arts Center of Richmond and Gallery5 donated prizes.
McDaniel said he wants to continue reducing the stigma surrounding disabled people and create more opportunities for disabled artists to show their work with fewer barriers to participation.
Madaline Gardner, a recent graduate of the painting and printmaking MFA program, co-curated the “Embodied Knowledge” exhibition. She helped design and install the exhibition and suggested the addition of juried prizes for participating artists.
“My research changed the way I make art through my perspective as a neurodivergent person, as I introduced tactile aspects to my work to accommodate for those with different sensory needs,” Gardner said. “There is a wide range of how disability is expressed in art, as artists seek to convey their relationship with the world around them and share a glimpse into their lives, they need assistance to give their art a place to be experienced.”
Gardner said that although disabled people face limitations related to their bodies and minds and a lack of systemic care, their experiences can offer valuable perspectives to others.
“Art is unique because it is a form of communication that engages the senses,” Gardner said. “It reaches across barriers to form connections.”
Gardner said she hopes “Embodied Knowledge” will help participating artists build relationships and expand their professional development opportunities in the future.
Sue Moss, VCU Health Sciences Library engagement coordinator, said the exhibition aligned with the library’s goal of creating opportunities for the community.
“At HSL, where knowledge is often associated with research and clinical expertise, disabled artists remind us that lived experiences and creative expression are also valuable sources of insight,” Moss said.
Moss said that recognizing disabled artists as knowledge contributors is important because their work offers more than representation.
“Their work does not simply illustrate existing knowledge,” Moss said. “It can question established perspectives, reveal overlooked experiences and enrich how we approach healthcare, education and research.”
Moss said she hopes visitors leave the gallery with a deeper appreciation for the diverse ways people experience and navigate the world, particularly in relation to disability. She said the artwork can encourage students and faculty to discuss accessibility, representation and person-centered care.
Participating artists
Lois Park, a fourth-year painting and printmaking student, took art classes growing up, but did not begin taking their artistic practice more seriously until after starting college.
Park’s art piece “Ennui,” examines how capitalism and the commodification of people and objects can diminish empathy and respect for others. They said they believe society’s emphasis on efficiency can come at the expense of meaningful human connection.
The exhibited piece is part of a larger body of work they are developing around those ideas. The piece took approximately 10 to 15 hours.
Although Park had a strong conceptual foundation for the work, they did not know exactly how those ideas would translate visually.
“The visual results and also the ways that my work diverges from the theory that I started from were both kind of surprising, but also really cool to see,” Park said.
Park wants viewers to spend time with their paintings and consider the meaning.
“My priority is less concerned with people understanding what the work is supposed to mean immediately,” Park said.
Words can struggle to capture complex emotions or feelings that cannot be defined by a single phrase, Park said.
“A feeling or an atmosphere, those are things that I think visual art is better suited to describing, which I think they are often the more important things to describe sometimes,” Park said.
Eva McMullen, a fifth-year student double-majoring in English and painting and printmaking, had been creative from a young age, enjoying projects and drawing.
Their multimedia piece, titled “In the Belly of the Afternoon,” uses screen print, collograph, tracing paper, dried herbs and artist board.
The idea developed from McMullen’s experience with Type 1 diabetes and becoming more conscious of their sleeping patterns.
The artwork reflects McMullen’s desire to honor rest rather than treat it as something that needs to be justified.
McMullen estimated that physically creating the piece took a week, although the concept developed over a longer period.
Viewers can have an immediate emotional response to a piece without necessarily knowing how to describe it, McMullen said.
“I feel like when I’m looking at a piece of work, there is a gut feeling that I get initially and I’m not always sure how to articulate,” McMullen said. “I think sometimes you can really feel the artist’s presence within the piece.”
McMullen said visual art can evoke memories, feelings and conclusions in less direct ways, allowing viewers to develop their own relationships with the work.
Cori Anderson, a fourth-year painting and printmaking student, did not spend much time drawing or making art growing up, but decided to pursue an art degree after discovering a passion for painting.
Anderson’s piece “Rat Race,” explores the anxiety and uncertainty that can accompany graduation. The painting grew out of conversations with family members about their future and the expectation that they should have pursued a different career.
“I don’t function in the way where I could go and work for the government, be an accountant for like 40 years and that just be my life,” Anderson said. “I tried to do that and it didn’t really work out for me.”
Anderson created “Rat Race” in three days, spending an estimated 20 to 30 hours on the painting.
Before “Rat Race,” Anderson recently completed a painting they were particularly proud of and worried they would struggle to produce another piece at the same level. They said they had to remind themselves that the painting might not look right during the process, but would eventually come together.
In “Rat Race,” the rats and gridlocked traffic represent the pressures and frustrations associated with modern life. Anderson also incorporated electricity transmission towers, which they viewed as symbols of the underlying infrastructure supporting capitalist systems. Although the towers are a familiar part of the landscape, Anderson said people often overlook their importance in maintaining the systems that structure everyday life.
“I was making a parallel there that I knew was a reach but I was like, ‘Maybe people would get it, maybe not,’” Anderson said.
“Embodied Knowledge” will remain on display at the VCU Health Sciences Library until February 2027.
In addition to the Embodied Exhibition, there is a “Soft Armor” exhibition open call underway and expected to close in November, with jurying scheduled for December. The exhibition is planned to open Jan. 22, 2027.
“Soft Armor” will be a disability-centered exhibition at The Anderson. The theme differs from “Embodied Knowledge”: instead of focusing primarily on experiences within healthcare, it explores the forms of armor and the tools people use to get through life while living with disabilities.