Conference
Facing Disability: Embodiment, Representation, And Rights
In conjunction with the exhibition Seeing and Believing: The Art of Nancy Burson
Facing Disability: Embodiment, Representation, And Rights
Conference, Thursday and Friday, March 21–22
Artist Nancy Burson in Conversation
Thursday, March 21, 6–8 pm
Main Building, Irving H. Jurow Lecture Hall (Room 101A)
(enter at 31 Washington Place)
Nancy Burson will discuss her work, followed by a conversation between herself and Jeanne McDermott, author of Babyface (Woodbine, 2000; Penguin, 2002). The book chronicles the life of McDermott’s son, Nathaniel, who was born with Apert Syndrome—a rare genetic condition that affects craniofacial bone structure—through the lens of the unconditional love a mother feels for her child.
Followed by a private viewing of the exhibition Seeing and Believing: The Art of Nancy Burson at the Grey Art Gallery.
Film Screenings and Discussion
Friday, March 22, 10 am–5:30 pm
King Juan Carlos I of Spain Center, NYU, 53 Washington Square South
10–11:30 am: Sea in the Blood (2000, 26 min.)
An experimental autobiographical video by Richard Fung explores the intertwined stories of the filmmaker’s relationship to his sister and her genetic condition, thalassemia, and his emergent sexuality and AIDS activism. Followed by a conversation between Richard Fung and Carolyn Dinshaw, Director, Center for the Study of Gender and Sexuality, New York University.
1–3 pm: Losing It (2001, 90 min.)
A cross-cultural world tour from New York to Siberia, Italy, Brazil, and Hong Kong, by filmmaker Sharon Greytak, reveals the aspirations and realities of people living with physical disability. Followed by a conversation between Sharon Greytak and Simi Linton, Ph.D., President, Disability/Arts.
3:30–5:30 pm: The Ugly Laws of Disability Studies
In a lecture, Susan Schweik, Department of English and Disability Studies, University of California at Berkeley, will survey the “ugly laws” prohibiting people with disabilities from appearing in public, and explore how the history of those laws has been invoked in disability studies. Followed by a discussion with all participants.
For more information, call 212/998-3759. Presented by the Center for Media, Culture and History, New York University, and cosponsored by the Department of Anthropology, the Program in American Studies, the Center for the Study of Gender and Sexuality, the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies, and the Grey Art Gallery.