Rights Cuts Action: the creativity of disabled resistance

The Shape Open is back for its twelfth consecutive year with Rights Cuts Action: the creativity of disabled resistance, placing the work of contemporary artists in conversation with archival photography from Keith Armstrong, disabled activist, artist, and writer. The exhibition is set against a backdrop of ongoing cuts to benefits and vital support systems and the continual fight to protect disability rights.

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Exhibiting artists: Emma Bentley Fox, Anna Berry, Elora Kadir, Fae Kilburn, Vince Laws, Zoe Milner, Guy Morris, Déa Neile-Hopton, Kristin Rawcliffe, Ivan Riches, Benedict Robinson, and Kim Waine-Thomas.

About Rights Cuts Action

Rights Cuts Action brings together powerful photographs from Keith Armstrong, capturing disability rights protests from the 1980s and 1990s, with new work from contemporary disabled artists. These images and artworks link past struggles to today’s ongoing fight for rights, access, and justice at a time when disabled people’s independence and livelihoods are under threat.

Armstrong documented the creative ways disabled activists took to the streets to demand change. An activist himself, he was also a writer, artist, and musician, whose contributions to the fight for disability rights can be found in our National Disability Movement Archive and Collection. The protests Armstrong took part in were seeking fundamental rights. Until legislation like the Disability Discrimination Act (1995), there was very little legal protection for the freedom, independence, and welfare of disabled people. 

The DDA was not perfect, however. It was felt by many to not go far enough because it was difficult to enforce, relied on a narrow definition of disability, and didn’t centre the lived experiences of disabled people. Since 1995, the fight for meaningful disability rights has continued, enthused with the energy, creativity, and community first generated by Armstrong and his peers.

There have been countless moments in recent history at which disabled people have been the subject of political debate and bartering. Often used as scapegoats to blame when economic pressures are high, disabled people have faced the decimation of their financial support, removal of vital systems of care, and rising discrimination from others in society. 

Talk of ‘benefits scroungers’ is used to justify cuts to funding that enables disabled people to work and live secure and meaningful lives. The pandemic witnessed forced Do Not Resuscitate Orders (DNRs) on disabled patients and fostered widespread apathy for the preventable deaths of disabled people. Many fear these attitudes act as a judgement on the disabled people’s value, meaning new laws on assisted dying pose a threat to life.

Most recently, the government has rolled out a new cycle of cuts to benefits that many disabled people rely on. Removal of this support forces disabled people into ongoing desperation, despair, and ever more precarious lives. Despite these ongoing threats to their wellbeing and security, activists and artists alike have continued to speak out, come together, and fight for their rights.

This exhibition exposes these repeated battles and demonstrates the power of creativity to give voice to struggle and offer both hope and direction in times of uncertainty. 

Accessibility

The Engine Shed is a step-free venue, most easily accessed from High Wycombe station (1 minute walk) which is also step-free. We encourage you to confirm the station lifts are working prior to travel.

There are accessible toilets at the venue. 

The exhibition will be fully audio described, all interpretation with be translated into BSL, an Easy Read guide will be available, and we will produce a Braille exhibition catalogue. 

If you have any questions about accessibility, or would like to request specific support for your visit, please get in touch.

Banner image: composite of three portrait photographs from a new photographic commission for Rights Cuts Action by artist Emma Bentley Fox. From left to right: Dawn Smallwood (she/her) - @artwithdawns. Description: Portrait photograph of Dawn, a tall woman with dark, curly hair. She stands in front of a block of flats, holding a sign reading “I’m worried”. Amari, a white non-binary person with brown eyes and pink hair, is standing outside of a red brick terrace with purple scaffolding, wearing a long floral print shirt and skirt, with an orange bandana. They hold a sign reading “Compassion not cuts”. Stuart, a white 68 year old man with blue eyes and short grey hair stands out in front of a red brick block of flats, holding a sign that reads “My disability is hidden. Your discrimination isn’t!”