A new exhibition has brought together contemporary works by 15 disabled, neurodiverse and D/deaf artists, in what curators describe as the first survey of its kind at a significant public gallery.
The Art Newspaper reported that Towards New Worlds, which runs at Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art (MIMA) until February 9 2025, features work spanning the “visual arts”, while bringing into question the very definition of the term.
It added that sounds, smells and textures are carefully integrated throughout a distinctly calming space, pushing the boundaries of the traditional gallery experience.
As part of the exhibition, multidisciplinary artist and disability activist Jenni Juulia Wallinheimo-Heimonen presents a darkly satirical film exploring the devaluing of care workers, and the dehumanisation of those they tend to.
In addition Christopher Samuel, whose practice as an artist and curator is rooted in identity and disability politics, offers an interactive narration of his own experiences as a Black, disabled, working-class person growing up in 1980s Britain.
Aidan Moesby, the exhibition’s curator, told The Art Newspaper: “Each of the artists in this exhibition could take their rightful place in a traditional, mainstream white cube gallery, but as a group our work often isn’t valued in the same way.
“I know that when I show in different contexts– of being either an artist and curator or a disabled artist and curator– it’s looked upon very differently. So to have a mainstream institution profiling and foregrounding work by these artists is groundbreaking.”
Aidan originally joined MIMA as part of the Future Curator’s scheme, which supports the development of disabled curators. He describes his ongoing collaboration with the institution as a part of its commitment to meaningful change, and to representation that goes beyond box ticking.
The Art Newspaper reported that disabled people make up 23 per cent of the UK’s working-age population but remain “chronically underrepresented”. It added that a report commissioned by the British Council in 2023 found that 48 per cent of European arts organisations surveyed presented work by disabled artists less than once a year, while 23 per cent never did so.
The paper said: “Towards New Worlds addresses this disparity in numbers, but also in the way the work of disabled and neurodiverse artists is sometimes approached. While lived experience is central to many of the exhibits in Middlesbrough, the show’s artists often rile against traditionally siloed views of their work– challenging viewers to engage with and learn from their stories but to judge them solely on the quality of what they create.”
