Third Annual Disability Pride Art Exhibition
In This Together:
Joy & Interdependence
in Disability Culture
EXHIBITION DATES
July 7 – August 15, 2025
During Disability Pride Month
Gallery Be @
Disability Network Washtenaw Monroe Livingston
3941 Research Park Dr | Ann Arbor, MI 48108
Open during office hours:
Tuesday – Thursday, 9:00am – 4:00pm
734.971.0277
Arts & Recreation + Gallery Manager, Claire Moore
This year’s exhibition celebrates the beauty of interdependence, the power of community, and the full spectrum of joy within disability culture. Our show features artwork that reflects the richness of disabled lives — not as isolated stories of struggle or inspiration, but as nuanced and deeply connected, complex, and joyful experiences.
Audio Tour
Feel free to pause the audio tour at any time to allow yourself more time with each piece.
COMING SOON.
Exhibition Statement from the Curator
Welcome back to the third annual Disability Pride Art Exhibition here at Gallery Be, located at Disability Network Washtenaw Monroe Livingston. We’re so glad you’re here.
In years past, our theme was open: share anything and everything about your disability journey. This year, however, I decided to do things just a little differently.
In a time of upheaval, of unrest, of daily uncertainty at best, I asked artists to emphasize the jubilance and support they experience as members of the disability community.
Our rebellious JOY, our laughter, our playfulness, our ability to build local and national systems of INTERDEPENDENCE, to seek camaraderie, and truly connect with one another–those choices are defiant, radical, revolutionary.
Take time for yourself to witness these disruptive moments of feeling good.
Claire Moore
Arts & Recreation Manager + Gallery Manager
Joy & Interdependence showcases work by artists throughout the midwest, with disabilities including: ADHD/ADD, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, Arthritis, Autistic/autism, Autoimmune Vasculitis, Bertolotti syndrome, Borderline Personality Disorder, Cerebral Palsy, Chronic Fatigue Disorder, Chronic Health Conditions, Chronic Migraines, Chronic Pain, Deaf, Depression, Fibromyalgia, Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Hypermobile Ehlers Danlos Syndrome, Irritable Bowel Syndrome, Learning Disorder, Mazea, Multiplesclerosis, Neurodiverse/neurodivergent, Polycystic Ovary Syndrome, Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome, Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, Traumatic Brain Injury, Visual Impairment.
Gally That: A documentary
Carolyn Girard
Film
2025
Concept
Gally That: an avant-garde documentary with animation – explores the culture and community of Gallaudet University – the first of it’s kind in the world. The community has everyone – Deaf, Deafblind, and everyone else in between. It challenges the hearing assumptions and questions through interviews with several students and alumni of different backgrounds and sign languages. It also shows the good, bad, and ugly of the university. Think: “Deaf U” but some the parts that they left out.
Image Description
The film starts with the metro noises. The camera person shows their POV walking into the train – transitioning into the title card: GALLY THAT. The viewer sees a house party with deaf people signing, dancing, playing uno: there are animations in beat showing the beats and melodies of the background music. Captions on the screen of what is being signed. The video transitions again to show quieter, one-on-one interviews with several students on topics like deaf identity, learning sign language, mainstream experience, and more. In between interviews are odd and quirky videos with text on-screen as if the camera-person is thinking out loud.There is voiceover with voice effects on screen as well. The end credits have Snapchat and random B-roll videos in the background, with animated hearing aids and cochlear implants flashing in the background.
The Self Evolving
Heather Banet
Filmed performance
2025
Concept
Our bodies change throughout disability & time. With these changes, the self evolves. The self evolves and we share the changes with each other. We embrace each other’s new versions of self.
Image Description
Heather walks to take the stage in a chair slightly in front of where Aviva is sitting in a chair. aviva is already dancing and then Heather joins in. They explore slow movements, in unison and not in unison. They slowly build up to the fast section in the second half. Heather and Aviva sit in chairs facing each other. They clap and then push one hand off another to make an outward direction circle with each arm that’s closest to the audience. They use their hands to make an energy ball and then release it to pose leaning to the sides of the stage. Heather turns to the back of the stage with their swivel chair and her arms stretch from low to high while Aviva faces inward still and does fist pumping motions to the side and up. Both of their hands touch each other again in a “high ten” (rather than high five) and they separate their hands to float down to their sides. They move to the music in ways that complement each other as well as are in synchrony. They find moments of stillness as well as fast paced motions. Heather spins in their chair and Aviva shifts to face front still in her chair. Then hold hands and stretch opposite hand to the side and up to form a curve above their heads and relax out of it. then Heather goes up while Aviva goes down, and then Heather stands and comes behind Aviva’s chair. Both their arms reach to the sky and then heathers hands follow Aviva’s arms as they stretch into a diagonal line. Ripple effect movements take place almost resembling a dancing octopus. The piece ends with slow arm movements and Heather and Aviva coming to stillness, Heather still behind Aviva, both of their hands clasped at the center of their bodies.
Being Me
Sue Reeves
Mixed media
2025
Concept
Spoken language is for me, the weakest link in communication. Yes-it is standardized, but people are not. Context and nuances can come from texture, color, layers, and arrangement. What some discard-others use to “speak”, so I took pieces of what was thrown away, arranged it in a way that made sense to me and added color and design to tell the world who I am.
Image Description
A mixed media collage using 2 and 3 dimensional objects, words, pictures, and colors .
Window to the World
Charles Miller
Acrylic paint
2024
Concept
The green squares at the bottom are windows–life looking outward. The view bursts into layers of bright colors, representing hope, joy and the sense of interconnectedness found in the world beyond.
Image Description
Square blocks of bright colors at the bottom third of the canvas opening up to wavy horizontal bands of colors, ranging from reds, oranges, greens, and blues to indigo, reaching to the top of the painting. These are the colors visible to the human eye in refracted light, such as in a sunrise or rainbow.
We Are Resilient Like Flowers
Megan Braun
Collage
2025
Concept
Seeds take a long time to grow into beautiful flowers. Just as it takes time to grow, it takes us time to figure out who we are, but we have resilience, and thriving can come.
I made this collage using different textures of magazines, just as we aren’t one story, we are a multitude of things. A flower cannot survive by itself; it needs sunlight, water, soil, and pollination to thrive. This is similar to us, we cannot do it by ourselves. We depend on each other and lean into our interdependence. We have resilience, lifting each other up to embrace who we are.
This collage took me more than 20 hours to complete. I enjoyed the process of making: searching for pieces, carefully cutting them out, deciding where to put them, and finally gluing them on.
Image Description
A flower with a blue background made entirely out of cut-out textures from magazines. The flower is orange, red, and pink with the petals shifting from one color to another. The flower has a yellow center and a green stem with a single leaf. The background is dark blue at the bottom and lighter blue at the top. The flower is not centered but shifted to the left.
Price upon request
meganbraunart.com
Self Reflection
Carlie Suris
Collage
Unknown
Concept
I was inspired by Frida Khalo’s self portraits. She didn’t always just paint her face but she painted things that are important to her. I did a reflective portrait. Both figures are myself. I’m showing the bright side of myself and the not so bright side.
Image Description
Two black profiles of faces, facing each other. On the left, shades of blue in the background. The left profile has blue, yellow, and white dots, as well as white clouds inside it. On the right, shades of orange in the background. The right profile has a yellow sun and yellow and red dots inside it.
Walking in Someone’s Tangled Shoes
Krista Koehler
Markers on shoes
2025
Concept
These zentangled shoes are more than decoration—they’re a reflection of how I move through the world. Each line represents the rhythms of my mind, the adaptations of my body, and the beauty in difference. Like disability culture itself, they challenge assumptions and invite connection.
Image Description
A pair of white mid-top laced Converse shoes with silver eyelets on both sides of the shoe with tangled laces. On all sides of the shoe, except the tongue, are black line drawings (Zentangle) created of curves, straight lines and repeating patterns.
Goodbye/Hello
Christine D. Crosheck
Mixed media
2024
Concept
Using the elements of shape, color, line, and texture, Christine D. Crosheck has produced an abstract multimedia piece that reflects the fluid nature of relationships where every human interaction not only has a start but an inevitable ending. One might ask, “What greeting do you use when you leave an interaction? What greeting do you use to start one? If you knew it was the last time you were interacting with a particular person what would you want to say?” This limited color palette is combined with abstract figures, bold lines, and interesting textures that provide a rich experience for the eye.
Image Description
Two whimsical abstract figures greeting each other, on a purple background.
$390
Cash only
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Quilled DNWML Logo
Dana DeBord
Paper
2025
Concept
The concept of this piece is to show I am neurodiverse and proud of who I am.
Image Description
Quilling is an art form that involves the use of strips of paper that are rolled, shaped, and glued together to create decorative designs. The letters DNWML appear in the center of the art piece with a full swoosh of blue surrounding the letters.
A SET OF NEW EYES
Dennis Johnson
Markers, pens
2025
Concept
My wife has always looked out for me as my eyes are the source of my disability; it’s almost like I was gifted a second pair of eyes which is the inspiration.
Image Description
A boy is shown without any eyes, being gifted a new set of eyes to see the world how he always wanted.
Do Not Pet
Ashley Mungons
Mixed media
Unknown
Concept
I painted my service dog, Toby, to let people know that not all disabilities are visible. My painting is done with textured acrylic.
Image Description
A background of repeated text, layered over and over, and reading “NOT ALL DISABILITIES ARE VISIBLE.” On the right, a white and tan service dog’s profile, facing left, wearing a red service harness. On the left, four medical alert stars in teal, pink, blue, and red.
flesh
Bailey Ryan Hammond
Doily, photo print, used bandaid with Bailey’s dried blood, thread
2024
Concept
This work explores inheritance and familial interconnections as it relates to being disabled, as someone with disabilities that have genetic components such as autism and autoimmune diseases. The vintage doily with a acetone photo print of me and my sisters, representing familial lineage and traditions, through the use of the secondhand item.
The bandaid contains my dried blood, symbolizing my personal connections to my conditions but also my actual DNA link to my family. The work speaks to the delicacy and tenderness of being cared for as someone with a disability within the family unit and seeks to expose the unseen links that unify us.
Image Description
A white 6 pointed doily with embroidered white butterflies on each point and a family photo in blue tones printed in the center. The photo has four females seated in a diamond pattern on a dark sofa. The two young women on either side have medium length dark hair; the one on the left has a dark top and black and floral pants and the one on the right has dark pants and a light top. In between them is a young blonde girl standing up, and laying in their arms is a small baby drinking from a bottle. Beneath the photo is a sewn bandage with a dark bloodstain in the center.
The Universe Within
Heather Banet
Acrylic paint
2025
Concept
I love zooming out from day to day life to remember that despite my disabled struggles I can find disabled joy through painting. A visual representation of this zooming out is to zoom out to the level of seeing only the universe represented by an abstract galaxy that is this painting. It is also quite spiritual for me thinking of my place in the universe, and praying to the universe.
Image Description
This is a multi colored galaxy with some green, white, and pink strings on it to add texture.
My houses
Keith Vailliencourt
Markers
2025
Concept
I think the houses help the community cause it gives people something to live in. And I think that it gives people some where to go and feel like they are safe. I wish that there were more available houses for the homeless families. I feel very fortunate to be a part of the disability community it gives me a safe and fun place to be creative.
Image Description
Different types of houses on their own pages, in various colors.
The Whimsy Club Meets Again
Lana Oeschger
Mixed media installation
2024
Concept
Through my work, I aim to process and articulate my experiences of disability and queerness – while still holding true to my love of silliness! The themes of whimsy and visibility are intentional in these artworks. Both queer and disabled identities can present as invisible to others, causing their validity to be challenged, and their accompanying struggles and joys to be ignored. As this exists in my own life, I use my perspective with queerness, autism, and chronic illness to inform my work. By creating a collection of whimsical and silly characters made through multiple types of mediums, I can make two marginalized identities hyper-visible in many ways without centering my own image. My art can hold my experiences for me, with humor and with honesty. By approaching a heavy topic in this manner, I wish to challenge what subject matters and artistic styles should be taken seriously in the mainstream art world, and hopefully bring accessibility to the forefront. Most importantly, I do this work because I believe this type of creation – artmaking for connection to oneself and to others – is a radical thing to do. I hope my art brings you joy.
Image Description
Mixed-media installation with many soft pastel colors and different floral and striped patterns. There are nine sewn forms, all varied in size, sitting atop a quilted blanket. Among the sewn forms is a laminated booklet of character descriptions for each sewn form. The sewn forms are made from a mix of machine and hand sewing. From left to right these sewn forms are described as such: one blue medium sized pillow with the words “FUCK STAIRS” and a frog; a medium-sized purple and pink snail with legs, wearing heels and red lipstick; a small-sized red heart with arms and legs; three yellow stars, one medium, one large, and one tiny; a medium-sized maroon and pink snake; a large-sized flower with arms and legs and roller skates on; a small-sized pillow that says “apple-tree kids”.
Price upon request
lanakateo22@gmail.com
Friends and Families
Elizabeth Brinkerhoff
Acrylic paint
Unknown
Concept
I was inspired by my friends and family and how they are important in my world.
Image Description
Two hands with fair skin hold hands, in front of the earth. A black background with white stars and comets. Below the earth, the words “Friendship makes the world a better place.”
Can You Hear Me?
Alex Menzor
Acrylic paint
2025
Concept
Visual portrayal of hearing through electricity.
Image Description
Colorful side profile self portrait portraying circular rainbow sound waves traveling to/from artist’s cochlear implant processor.
$1850
Venmo: @Alex-Menzor
Cashapp: $AlexMenzor
apmenzorstudio@gmail.com
My Everyday Face
Leora Druckman
Ceramics, mixed media
2025
Concept
You are looking at “My Everyday Face,” a sculpture representing the face I show when I am interacting with the outside world. On the outside I look like an average, happy, healthy, aging woman. My disabilities are mostly invisible. When I am feeling well enough to go out, I smile, nod and exchange pleasantries as I interact with people. These pleasantries (such as “Hello!”, “I’m Fine” and “Have a nice day!”) are superficial, automatic and are represented by the digital display within the sculpture. Only my closest friends are aware of the depth of my debilitating fatigue, my loss of function including hearing loss, vertigo and balance difficulties, dysfunctional immune system, cognitive changes, lack of physical energy and other challenges.
My life requires constant management due to autoimmune vasculitis, depression, a non-neurotypical brain and side effects (including diabetes) from my many medications. Inside, I am constantly working hard to maintain the delicate balance that allows me to function for at least some of my waking hours without sending my body into a downward spiral. In addition, like most of us these days, I am processing a vast amount of information about the latest upheaval or decline in our civilization and other stimuli about the world around us. This stimuli communicates many expectations of what I should look like (thin, healthy and attractive), be like (pleasant, helpful and non-confrontational) and do (producing, achieving and providing). The wires entering the sculpture represent this input and the multiple technologies (radio, internet, television, print) that bring that information to me and the state of overwhelm that it creates.
The reflecting “eyes” are how I see and relate to the world, reflecting back to others what I see in them. Processing (represented by the wild, curly, wire “hair’) all of this input and the extensive effort to maintain some semblance of a functional life often fills me with confusion, dread, anxiety and overwhelming exhaustion. These effects are represented in the black foam issuing forth from inside the sculpture, leaking out the top and through various holes around the form. The hands represent the energy that goes into controlling what I say and do in order to navigate the world around me. Sometimes, I feel like a pressure cooker about to explode. Channeling these feelings into my art gives me a way of understanding and expressing what I am experiencing in a way that everyday surface interactions do not.
Image Description
A rectangular “face like” ceramic piece in muted colors. The red “mouth” has a digital display that repeats such niceties as “Hello, I’m fine and Have a nice Day”. There is an orange hand painted over the mouth. The “eye” contains a silver reflective ball. A number of wires enter the sculpture on the sides. Black foam emerges from the top and from holes in the sculpture. Purple curly “hair” is on the top.
Hidden In Plain Sight
Samantha Finley
Acrylic paint
2023
Concept
This piece highlights hidden disabilities that may not be so hidden after all. Doctors over look a lot of symptoms to diagnose easier answers to the problems you may have. The zebra which is known in the rare disability community as the “rare” symbol is only slightly hidden by the flowers but it is hidden enough to be looked over.
Image Description
A black and white zebra on a black background. Semi realistic with orange and yellow in its mane. It has red flowers lining its shoulder with one flower on its nose and one on the bottom of the canvas.
$200
curlyburnz@gmail.com
313-778-0976
Shine
Sharon Vance
Legos
2025
Concept
I made this artwork while thinking about a dragon who doesn’t like to fly like other dragons but finds acceptance and an ability to show off her beauty and unique talents by using a crystal ball to see her feelings and the future.
Image Description
Diya, a Dragon with beautiful rainbow wings, gazes into a crystal ball and the light shining out from the ball is a reflection of the love she feels for those who accept her in spite of the fact that she doesn’t like to fly as other dragons do.
$500
PayPal: sj.vance@yahoo.com
Girls night out
Sue Reeves
Colored pencil
2024
Concept
I am trying to show how you can be different, but see things with a common “eye,” and have the time of your lives.
Image Description
Very bright and vivid colors show two cubist type ladies with long necks entwined and having fun.
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Quilled Disability Pride Flag
Dana DeBord
Paper
2025
Concept
The concept of this piece is to show I am neurodiverse and proud of who I am.
Image Description
The Disability Flag made from quilling paper. Quilling is an art form that involves the use of strips of paper that are rolled, shaped, and glued together to create decorative designs. The Disability Flag has a gray triangle in the upper right and bottom left corners, with diagonal stripes from the upper left to the bottom right corners in red, yellow, white, blue, & green (listed top to bottom).
Along the Winding Narrows
Amy Everett
Mixed media
2025
Concept
Visiting Utah’s National Parks has always been a bucket list item for me although I was cautioned that I might not be able to do and see what I envisioned – not to discourage me but to prepare me for realistic expectations due to my mobility limitations. And it was during this trip that I finally understood the difference between accessible and easy paths – the former are wider, paved trails while the latter may be narrow and muddy with ruts, steps, and not accessible for a walker. But fate intervened: a month before our trip, I chatted with a stranger waiting in line with hiking poles who generously allowed me to try them out. While my initial impression was they were not for me, not offering the stability or seat that my rollator does, I decided to practice with a friend’s set and packed my own with a hiking stool in my suitcase. Miraculously, I was able to solely use the poles on all of the adventures that week – and see and do more than I hoped for even if it was less than I wanted. Inspired by a photo I took in Zion along our walk to The Narrows, I couldn’t wade through The Narrows but I could appreciate the beauty along the way. And thanks to a stranger, the support of my husband and yes, my own determination, I was able to once again challenge my disability.
Image Description
Created on brown craft paper, this nature trail view has a black brush ink sketch peeking through bright orange, yellow, green, blue, pink, magenta, purple and white oil pastel blocks of color and scribbled color pencil lines which add detail and movement. It depicts a meandering stream separating a shear cliff wall in the upper right from the edge of the trail with a stone wall in the lower left. A tree along the outside of the path arcs up and over the stream while other lush vegetation grows along the bank. And a bright blue patch of sky in the upper left complements the blue stream flowing down the lower right.
Price upon request
aleverett@ymail.com
It’s All in My Head
Heather Hockin
Acrylic paint on canvas
2013
Concept
I painted this while I was in outpatient therapy at Origami Rehabilitation Center for Traumatic Brain Injury. I brought the painting to my yoga therapy class to show to everyone. My Neuropsychologist wouldn’t let me read or watch TV for over a month, but when I told him I used to paint for fun before my car accident, he said I could still do that. I didn’t know if I could. There were so many things that I couldn’t do anymore, but I was learning from everyone there to focus on the things that I COULD do. I wanted to show them my painting. We all had different types of injuries, but everyone used their own experiences to encourage everyone else. I was trying to figure out who I was now by painting into the hair coming out of my head everything I could think of that made me who I was up to that point: Books and characters I had loved, T.V. shows and movies I remembered watching, people I admired, things I liked to do – everything I could think of that I cared about. All of this was in my head. Also, I wanted to say something about invisible disabilities, how people sometimes assume that because you look like everyone else, you should still be the same as everyone else. All of the members of my yoga group were different, but in a way we were also all the same. It didn’t matter to us how someone looked on the outside. We understood one another from the inside.
Image Description
Self-portrait of a woman from the bare shoulders up, wearing rectangular glasses, her blonde hair stretching out in all directions in clumps shaped sort of like snakes. Inside the strands of her hair are tangled an assortment of images, all the people and places and things, stories and movies and plays and books that she associates with her identity.