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Turning it on its Head - What is your American Dream?

Artist Zoe Partington-Sollinger has created a series of 10 portraits which share her conversations with a collection of disabled artists from around the world about their notion of the ‘American Dream’.

Zoe explains: “Disabled people spend their lives managing myths and preconceptions assimilated to their characters and persona. This work is about connecting with disabled people and non-disabled people worldwide to use photographic portraits to share, ‘The American Dream’.”

Turning it on Its Head uses sound and image to challenge traditional portraiture and provides a critical exploration of Zoe’s own experience of sight loss and her personal interpretation of images.

As part of the project she is inviting online audiences to share their American Dream through photography or sounds which audiences can upload here as part of the festival 1st October to the 31st October.

Submit your images and sounds that explore your personal American Dream.

FREE-DOM

This colour photo is in landscape format although it’s a portrait. Against a plain white background, the subject, Wendy Hee, who describes herself as ABC – Australian-born Chinese, peeps out of the bottom right hand corner, looking across to the opposite side. The side of the frame cuts across her face in front of her left ear. The bottom of the frame cuts across the tip of her nose. Her skin is tanned and freckled. The black strands of her fringe sweep across her left eyebrow, so that we focus on a quadrant of her upturned face. There’s a sense of amusement in her eyes as she gazes across the whiteness at something out of our view.This colour photo is in landscape format although it’s a portrait. Against a plain white background, the subject, Wendy Hee, who describes herself as ABC – Australian-born Chinese, peeps out of the bottom right hand corner, looking across to the opposite side. The side of the frame cuts across her face in front of her left ear. The bottom of the frame cuts across the tip of her nose. Her skin is tanned and freckled. The black strands of her fringe sweep across her left eyebrow, so that we focus on a quadrant of her upturned face. There’s a sense of amusement in her eyes as she gazes across the whiteness at something out of our view.

Shot from a low angle, a cluster of scrabble tiles spills towards the viewer, leaving a black letter M (worth 3 points) prominent in the centre. The tiles are lying on an American flag: two crisp white stars on a blue fabric background, towards the bottom of the frame, red and white stripes blurring in the distance, reaching to a nondescript horizon, three quarters of the way up. The letters on the remaining tiles are unclear, blurred or covered by other tiles of the collapsed tower.

DEMO-CRACY

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The Vans of the title refers to the brand of shoe that occupies the centre of this colour photograph. The white brand label is stitched into the black canvas upper. The left foot that’s modelling the shoe is twisted slightly as if the unseen owner is admiring the shoe bringing the label uppermost. Neat double lines of white stitching outlines the contours of the uppers and edge the throat and tongue. Clean white laces gleam from white eyelets, fastening the shoe in a criss-cross pattern, the ends tucked in. The white rubber welt around the sole is a little grubby, so the shoe we assume is a recent acquisition rather than brand new. The foot is perhaps propped on a table or a case its textured grey leather cover extends up the right hand side of the image. At the top a black strap loops towards the toe. Towards the left, a lozenge of light thrust into the photo from the top. It’s hazy – like molten glass- too bright to look at for long, so our eyes take refuge in the matt black canvas of the shoe and we smile, perhaps at the pink,blue and white patterned sock of its owner, about whom we know nothing -except their taste in foot wear.

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The entire photo is blurred and gives the sense of not wanting to be identified clearly. The scrabble tiles are piled on top of each other as if they have been pushed like a row of standing dominoes with the prominent tile with the black letter D showing (worth could be 2 points but it is very blurred). The tiles are all lying on a striped red and white section of the American flag and the fabric is very blurred edges soft focus. Behind the scrabble letter D at the front is another letter not visible except for (worth 1 point). The artist conversation with this disabled person was about a disabled identity and the value of the term Disabled. The back ground to this is more about hiding with a hidden impairment so concealing part of your Disabled identity from others.

Standing M

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This photo, (again) in landscape, is full of movement as a woman faces left, her blonde-brown hair whipped by the wind. She pulls it from her eyes, clamping it downwith one hand clasped to her head, her fingernails painted black. Her eyelashes are thickly blackened too, framing a blue eye, her left eye – her right eye is not visible apart from black lashes beyond the bridge of her nose. Her face fills the right half of the frame. The contours of her ear, her hair tucked behind it, nestle in the bottom right hand corner. Her profile half-hidden by untamed hair, is echoed to the left by the line of what might be a hood, puffed out by the wind that unleashes the hair so that it cuts across her face and flies free, streaking the area of blue sky in the top left corner, the sun turning the strands to burnished copper and gold.
This photo, (again) in landscape, is full of movement as a woman faces left, her blonde-brown hair whipped by the wind. She pulls it from her eyes, clamping it downwith one hand clasped to her head, her fingernails painted black. Her eyelashes are thickly blackened too, framing a blue eye, her left eye – her right eye is not visible apart from black lashes beyond the bridge of her nose. Her face fills the right half of the frame. The contours of her ear, her hair tucked behind it, nestle in the bottom right hand corner. Her profile half-hidden by untamed hair, is echoed to the left by the line of what might be a hood, puffed out by the wind that unleashes the hair so that it cuts across her face and flies free, streaking the area of blue sky in the top left corner, the sun turning the strands to burnished copper and gold.

The shot is from the side and the scrabble letters are standing on their lower tile edge. The letter on the tile in the centre of the photo is a black letter M (worth 3 points). There are 7 standing tiles but you can only make out the first letter and the value. The tiles are all standing on a striped section of the American flag. The tiles are standing on the red section following the flow of the line to the back of the photo going into the distance and getting blurred and blending into the back ground. The first tile is sharper and quite clear. The 7 tiles stand for independent living the reference to disabled people lives and the access required by the society supporting your independence. The image is asking if Disabled people have independence not only in America but globally.

DSABLE

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This striking image is mostly electric blue, except for half of a girls face, jutting in from the right. She looks out at us. Her right eye and the sweep of her fringe, where it divides above the eye are a darker blue but her nose is half of a curvy inverted triangle of red outlined with vivid orange. More of this orange marks her temple and her cheek. It’s as if she’s daubed her face with warpaint. More orange colours her fringe in the top right hand corner and in the bottom an orange semi-circle is all there is of her lips, otherwise cut off by the frame. Flecks of orange and dark blue fly out across the top of the photo, irregular blobs as if the girl has shaken her head, scattering the paint .

The shot is parallel to the standing scrabble tile/letters. The tiles read DSABLE from left to right of the image across the entire frame. The tiles are a quarter of the way up the page it is a landscape shot. The first letter on the left is a black letter D (worth 2 points) a space is between the two tiles and then it is the letter S (worth 1 point) again a space nearly the size of the scrabble tile but just slightly less. The scrabble tile letter third across is an A with a shadow on the right side made by the tile in front of this tile the value is in the frame (worth 1 point). The 4th tile across is B (worth 3 points). The fifth letter across is L (worth 1 point) and the final tile with letter E is upside down and in reverse. The tiles all stand on the blue fabric with white stars in the foreground. Behind the tiles is the red and white strips of the fabric flag lifting away from the flat surface and layered folds of fabric concealing the striped pattern all slightly out of focus and blurred. The word is highlighting the fact disabled people are disabled by the frameworks around them and not by their impairment. The E in reverse is a comment on ‘the disable’ who are still not quite allowed total inclusion into the every day. The letters signifying terminology around dyslexia and children being labelled and left or forced to fit into a framework that doesn’t work. The framework often created by adults to dis-empower disabled children.

In this colour photo, in landscape format, a 30-something woman in profile, just edges in to the left hand side of the frame. She’s in the foreground, sharply in focus, gazing towards a blur of boats moored in a natural harbour, beyond her and filling the rest of the frame. The surface of the blue water is ruffled, reflecting a blue sky overhead that’s streaked with ribbons of puffy grey cloud. But there’s a hint of better things to come with sunshine on the horizon that shines out beneath the clouds. It silhouettes a dark tree line that hugs the curve of the bay and glints off the blurred boats and little wavelets. Wendy smiles as the sun falls on her face, spotlighting her straight nose, the black oval of her nostril, the curve of her cheek, her pink lips and her white teeth. The water is a patchwork of blues and greys and whites like a pointilliste painting. The boat closest to us is a white motor launch, with a blue tarpaulin stretched over its hull and vertical metal poles, fishing rods perhaps or ariels. The boats that lie further off mostly have wooden masts. There’s no sign of any other people, Wendy is alone, with the sun and the sea and her dreams.
In this colour photo, in landscape format, a 30-something woman in profile, just edges in to the left hand side of the frame. She’s in the foreground, sharply in focus, gazing towards a blur of boats moored in a natural harbour, beyond her and filling the rest of the frame. The surface of the blue water is ruffled, reflecting a blue sky overhead that’s streaked with ribbons of puffy grey cloud. But there’s a hint of better things to come with sunshine on the horizon that shines out beneath the clouds. It silhouettes a dark tree line that hugs the curve of the bay and glints off the blurred boats and little wavelets. Wendy smiles as the sun falls on her face, spotlighting her straight nose, the black oval of her nostril, the curve of her cheek, her pink lips and her white teeth. The water is a patchwork of blues and greys and whites like a pointilliste painting. The boat closest to us is a white motor launch, with a blue tarpaulin stretched over its hull and vertical metal poles, fishing rods perhaps or ariels. The boats that lie further off mostly have wooden masts. There’s no sign of any other people, Wendy is alone, with the sun and the sea and her dreams.

The other one

Shot from a low angle, a cluster of scrabble tiles piled on a folded American flag spills across the frame. Lying flat at the bottom, where the blue ground of the stars joins the red and white of the stripes, a letter L then an A(each worth a single point) are edge-ways on to us, the letters teasing the eye, as they are hard to make out because of the angle. The uppermost letter, the fifth, just left of centre, is an N on its side, so it could be a Z. It is heavily blurred, tipping towards us, casting shadows, almost hovering millimetres above its unstable ground. The whole composition plays with clarity and blurred lines, the stable and the unstable, light and shadow, colour and monochrome.

NORMAL

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A woman, facing us just edges into the right hand side of this photograph. Big black sun glasses cover her eyes, making her nose appear as a white triangle, her forehead a white band above, is partly covered by the wispy fronds of her fringe. A longer strand of hair, comes down past the glasses on the left hand side, curving in towards her mouth that is cut off by the bottom of the frame. This realistic if abstracted image of the woman contrasts with the remaining 4/5ths of the picture which would be plain white but has pixellated into little coloured squares in blues, purples, yellows and pinks, just a band of unadulterated white curves around the woman’s face like an aura, as if she has magical properties.

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The photograph is taken from a low angle, a cluster of scrabble tiles spills away from the viewer. The tiles spell a word not quite legible but the tile on the left has a black letter N but it is lying down at an angle to the viewer so could be read as a Z. This tile partly covers the next tile lying on it the letter is covered but (worth 1 point, this is clear). The tile/letter under the one that isn’t clear could be a black R (worth 1 point) this is then partly covering the next scrabble tile which could be a M (worth 3 points). The tile with the letter M is partly covering the tile with the letter A and (worth 1 point) and then the final 5th tile is quite blurred but an L (worth 1 point). The tiles are lying on an American flag; on a blue fabric background with white stars slightly covered by the tiles of the collapsed row of scrabble/letters. The image is reflecting the ideas of the ‘American Dream’ and the word in full reads as NORMAL. The artist is in conversation with others was looking at the concept of FREEDOM, LIBERTY, OPPORTUNITY, DEMOCRACY and EQUALITY in reference to disabled people in America and internationally.

VALID

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This striking image features elements in dayglo yellow on blue. It resembles a negative, making it unclear what is foreground and what is background but there is clearly a woman, facing us on the far right of the picture, the side of the frame bisecting her face. She has a jagged bob, the fringe just skirting the one eye pictured, the lower edge of the cut almost brushing a ring in her right ear. Her features are mostly impossible to make out, just a splurge of deep blue except for a lurid yellow cheek. Beyond the angle of her neck and shoulder a big smear of yellow across the lower third of the image, is perhaps the beach, with blue rectangles standing up behind punctuated by yellow gashes, perhaps skyscrapers on the Rio skyline. Little is certain except the boldness of the yellow that streaks across the image and the woman’s uncompromising gaze.

Shot from above, a row of scrabble tiles/letters spills towards the viewer, the letters seem to spell the word VALID but is not clear at first. The prominent letter at the front is a black letter D (worth 2 points) the letter lying behind this is just peeking out and is not clear. The one behind this you can just make out is the letter L. Behind this is the letter A partially covered by the letter L in front of it. The letter at the back piled under all the 4 other letters is V.

The tiles are lying on a part section of the American flag a red and white striped section. At the rear of the photo is the blue fabric with 3 white stars slightly crumpled in folds in the material? The tiles are lit and the back ground has shadows creating less clarity and blurred edges. The shot and conversation from the artist and disabled activist working in Rio South America reflects the times are changing in Brazil. Disabled people referred to as deficient in Brazil links very closely to historically the term ‘invalid’ referring negatively to a disabled person as invalid a person who is not valid in the UK. The entire shot is a play on meaning and language around dis-empowerment of disabled people and or empowerment depending on your perspective.

LIFE

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Framed as if peeping through a letter box, this colour photo shows a woman’s brown eyes gazing to the left. Her dark brows are neat, just below the brim of her slate grey felt hat – presumably the fedora of the title. Its expansive brim fills the upper left quarter of the photo, obscuring a blurred background beyond. From just her eyes it is hard to gauge this white woman’s age but she’s probably in her 30’s. There are fine lines between her brows and on the thin skin below each eye. Our eyes are drawn to hers, as pinpricks of light fleck the black pupils. Fine red blood vessels creep across the whites.

The entire shot is blurred the focus is on the centre scrabble tiles and the letters are black on the white tiles. There are 4 tiles and from left to right they are the black letter L (worth points is not visible very blurred) the second tile and letter is I again the whole tile is quite blurred and out of focus the third letter is a black letter F (worth 4 points) the final letter is the letter E on its side so the long side of the letter E is lying down with the three points facing up. The tiles are arranged in a standing order not lying down on the American Flag which is red and white striped the fabric is flat where the tile letters are standing in the centre of the frame but the left and right side are crumpled and the material take son a 3-D quality and appears to have ridges and on either side so the tile letters look as if they are standing in a valley. At the back is a dark area which is the rest of the American flag the blue and white stars but very out of focus it appears to drop away behind the tiles. The conversation had about LIFE in South America and identity was focused on chaotic times, unstable moments and combined with a sense of vibrant identity and Brazilian ideals. The portrait combines the idea of speed and a fast pace of LIFE.

QALE

Bathed in an eerie yellow-green light, a middle-aged white man stares earnestly across this photo, three-quarters of his face making it into the right hand side of the frame. He looks serious, his mouth a straight line, thin lips closed. His forehead is creased and deeper lines etched between his eyebrows suggest he is frowning or squinting against the sun. A patch of bright sunlight lands on one side of his nose, and hovers around his lips highlighting his stubbled chin, the bottom of which, below the lips is cut off by the frame. Behind him, a row of tall modern towerblocks is blurred, each building reflecting the acid yellow in which this image is steeped. Because they are blurred they appear to shimmer uncertainly, like a mirage or a heat haze, while the man himself is solid, every line, pore and tiny hair picked out with clarity in the yellow light.

The photograph is shot from the front, the standing scrabble tile/letters read QALE from left to right of the image across the entire frame. There are 5 standing tiles but only 4 in view. The tiles are standing and it is a landscape shot. The first letter on the left is a black letter Q (worth 10 points) the focus is blurred and not sharp, then a tile is hidden behind the tile letter Q; on the left of the partly hidden tile all that shows is the number value (worth 1 point) this is in full focus. A space is between the next two tiles it is the letter A on its side facing away from the viewer, so the top part of the capital A is pointing towards the back of the shot (worth 1 point) again a space millimetres between the next one showing the black letter L (worth 1 point) directly next to this the last tile the letter is E (worth 1 point). The tiles all stand on the American Flag striped red and white and behind the tiles the background is blue fabric with white stars scattered and crumpled. The anagram is not clear and because one letter remains hidden we are not entirely sure of the message or meaning.

EQUAL

The colour photo is shot in landscape. A woman faces us, in sharp focus, the top left hand quarter of her face is in view from the middle of the bottom to the top left corner of the photo. To the right of her the photo is blurred, with different shapes and various colours. The colours are different shades of brown, blue and white. The woman’s left eye is just peeping into the left corner of the photo .Her eye is a piercing light blue in colour. Her eyelashes are dark and spikey, her brown eyebrow is a thick regular line. Her straw coloured hair comes across her forehead and falls down. The person represents a fragment of a portrait something is missing.

The photograph is of 5 scrabble tiles standing up right in the foreground. They are standing on the American Flag on top of the red and white stripes. In the back ground the blue fabric with white stars tumbling out of view. The white stars are not crisp but blurred. The 5 scrabble times stand facing us the time on the left has the letter E it is blurred with the (worth number 1 on the bottom right hand side) just slightly behind this is the tile Q (worth 10 in the bottom right hand corner). This too is blurred and not a sharp crisp focus. Behind this is the tile with the letter U slightly obscured by the Q tile to its left. It is (worth 1) in the bottom right corner. This tile is a much sharper image the next tile is a few millimetres away and slightly forward of the U tile. This is a sharp image but this time the letter A is on its side with the point of the A directed to the next letter (it is worth 1 on the bottom left hand corner). To the right is the letter in black L (worth 1) number at the bottom right. This is a sharp focus on the tile L.

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IRON Heel Project San Francisco in Collaboration with SDCI at the Jack London Ranch -

The Iron Heel Collective a photo from a scene in the performance. This dramatic, multi-media Readers Theater production based on Jack London’s pioneering novel utilizes mask, puppetry, dance, performance and live music. Giant hand-painted cantastoria panels depict key episodes from the story, a collage of past and present political realities—‘Ernest Confronts the 1%,’ ‘The General Strike,’ ‘The Rise of The Iron Heel,’ ‘The Battle of Chicago’ and ‘The Brotherhood of Man.’ The theatrical event was commissioned for its premier in Ankara, Turkey at the 8th Annual Ankara ETHOS International Theater Festival.

The Iron Heel, originally published in 1908, is a dystopian science fiction novel that predicted the First World War, the rise of fascism, authoritarianism, and the brutal suppression of movements for social change. The message is a timely warning in this era of corporate domination of the political process.

The production features London’s great-granddaughter, Tarnel Abbott, as the socialite-turned-revolutionary, Avis Everhard, and his great-great grandson, Devin O’Keefe as the anti-capitalist organizer, Ernest Everhard. Isolte Avila and David Bower from the European-based Signdance Collective International, which participated in the premier production in Ankara, are artistic collaborators on this production. Also featured are Artistic Director Regina Gilligan, Mask/Puppet Director David Solnit, and guest musician Andrés Soto on saxophone. Cast and crew include Amanda Bellerby, Glynnis Fowler, Nina Ruymaker, Patsy Byers, Paunika Jones, Shane Shambhu and Shoshana Wechsler.