It is all about boxes these days.
Or maybe it has been about boxes for a very long time?
On the 29th February, I did my very first lecture
at UCC by invitation of the Folklore Department. The title of the talk was 'BOXED
OUT: Art and Disability - A Folklore and Gender perspective.'
It was an interesting experience, on many levels.
At the start of my Into
the Light project over 3 years ago, I had said that one of the things I
wanted to achieve was to give lectures at University (I felt that there was an element of the lived experience of disability
missing from Disability Studies). But when I was this notion looked like it
could become a reality a few months ago, it was scary prospect to have to stand
(sit) in front of a group of students…
There were many thoughts how I wanted to approach this talk.
The main topics: Arts, disability, and boxes. In this case seen from a Folklore
perspective.
While preparing for the lecture, what surprised me most was
how my creative journey of the past 25 years all brought me to this very day.
My initial art created in Ireland all had to do with folklore; the fairy stories surrounding Dromana house where I lived influenced my Fantasy Folk Artist Dolls. But also the characters that I observed in the pubs or in the countryside made their way into my art. I responded creatively to the Irish folklore that surrounded me.
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| Fantasy Folk © Corina Duyn |
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| Fantasy Folk © Corina Duyn |
Becoming ill turned my art into the story of illness and
disability. It changed into an inner folklore.
To my utter surprise, when I was looking for images of the
early drawings, which many were of eggs, I came across the very first ‘visual
thought’ - a drawing of a box…
… And I
thought that the boxes only came into my art in the last two-years or so…
So, 17 years later, I'm giving a talk about ‘boxes’. How society will try to put you in a box,
and how to step out of them.
In the summer of 2014, when I came up with the idea to make the Into the Light book-in-a-box, I also was working on a sculpture called Stepping out of the Box. The connection between these two creative projects only became clear to me months later… As is usually is the case, somebody else probably pointed this out to me!
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| Stepping out of the Box © Corina Duyn 2014 |
In the summer of 2015 I started facilitating the Puppet
Project with my fellow members of the Irish Wheelchair Association (IWA). We
were to create a series of puppets, make a set, write a script and create a
short film. During the first session I brought the little box sculpture with me
and suggested, maybe we can make a large version if this and it would allow for
each puppet to be created as an individual, and each one can ‘leave the box and
step out into the world’. The reactions were amazing. All sort of ideas were
floating through the room. Butterfly, a dancer, a biker, a musician,…
Little did I know how powerful an adventure it would become?
We didn’t just create puppets. We re-created ourselves in a way. We all stepped
– proudly- out of the box.
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Life Outside the Box 2016
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The puppets have taken over our lives. They are intent on
going on journeys. Two have visited Youghal beach- others are going to Spain on
holidays in May.
I believe the puppets are speaking for us. We communicate
through our puppets- that yes- we are
living with illness or disability- but we are very much part of society in our
own right. We are capable of doing many things- including making puppets-
create a book- a video- have an exhibition and having an awful lot of fun doing
so. We very much live outside of the box.
Over the next few weeks, these two projects – which I can no longer see as separate projects – will be celebrated. The second of the Life Outside the Box launches will take place on Wednesday 16th March at Waterford City Library (see invite).
A celebration and launch of my Artist Book Into the Light which will be held at The Sanctuary (Dublin) On Saturday 2nd April, 2-4 pm
Introduced by Sr. Stan (founder of the Sanctuary- a place of absolute beauty and peace), followed by a talk by me.
For further information about directions, book details, Sanctuary, Sr. Stan, see Corina’s Website
These two Box- projects have helped me too. Having
successfully guided my group through eight months of this puppet project has
given me the courage to do the talk at UCC. To speak up, and be proud of whom I
am. What I have achieved.
Even the fact that the platform to access the computer of
this ‘high tech’ room at UCC was not accessible for wheelchair users, and my
computer was not compatible with the technology, (I improvised - had the
students come as close as they could, and shared my story with the help of my
small laptop screen), I was not put out by it. It proved my point about
disability- and stepping out of the box!
If you
can’t make it to the launches, but like the books, they are also available
online see my web-shop . (Into the Light is free of
postage, Life Outside the Box €1.50 postage)
The Puppet project was kindly supported by an “Artist in the
Community Scheme” funded by the Arts Council of Ireland. Into the Light was
supported by Rehab Visual Art scheme
