'I'

I is a series of digitally manipulated photographic self-portraits produced in Scotland in 1998-99 in collaboration with people with congenital physical disabilities. A different disability is superimposed onto each of the eight images of me in such a way that the composite figure looks convincing, but so that, in realizing that all the portraits are of the same person, viewers will begin to question their reaction to seeing a disabled body. By separating the disability from the person it is my intention to encourage viewers to realize that it is often the disability they see before the person.

The initial idea for these images arose as I was working with people with amputations to produce the series After Image in 1997. As I developed this work, I realized that people whose bodies are different from the conventional "norm" are still often considered, and treated, as problematic--as less than human. This work was, therefore, aimed at challenging public perceptions of, and attitudes toward, physical disability, and questioning the boundaries of what is considered beautiful and/or acceptable with regard to body form.

For me, there is an interesting contradiction between the belief that the self is located in, and expressed by, the body as much as the mind, and the observation that the body is not always an adequate representation of the self. This contradiction is particularly evident when we consider people with disabilities, especially those with conditions such as Down syndrome, where particular facial features are seen to represent a certain type of personality and level of mental [Begin Page 510] ability. The work is intended to point out such contradictions, but not to offer any conclusions.

These images were originally made in an effort to confront people with their own prejudices and fears on seeing a congenitally disabled, or different, body. However, as the project evolved, I realized that in a metaphorical sense this work also represents the feeling of abjection or foreignness that everyone experiences at some time in relation to her or his own body. The work uses digital manipulation to construct identities that represent a universal experience of self as imperfect. These constructed figures explore and expand definitions of an acceptable body form and bring into question social definitions of disability.

My aim in superimposing different disabilities onto a single identity is simultaneously to invite the viewer's gaze and to interrogate it. Most of the figures look directly out of the image--accusing or challenging the spectator. The ornate historical setting in which these figures are placed offers them status and a place within the tradition of portraiture. Some may see this as a long overdue right, and some as a problematic shift--I hope you will negotiate your own position with the figures themselves.

Alexa Wright is a research fellow in photography at the University of Westminster, London. Her work has been exhibited widely in the United Kingdom and more recently at the Exploratorium in San Francisco (2000). Currently, she is working on a performance piece on the subject of pain.

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