Thirteenth International Conference on The Arts in Society

Abstract

The physical difference of disability is not commonly associated with beauty, but rather its opposite. Theorists acknowledge the vicissitudes of taste in aesthetic judgement. Similarly, theorists acknowledge the vicissitudes of the valuation of disability - that is, physical difference is not always and everywhere defined as a disability. This interesting parallelism between the vicissitudes of aesthetic taste and disability is acutely illustrated through the representation of the dwarf - particularly the achondroplastic/disproportional dwarf. The purpose of the disability aesthetic was to produce a shift in the standards of beauty away from the notions of harmony, bodily integrity and health. However, despite such development of terminology, and claims of purpose, the definition of the disability aesthetic remains obtuse. Through the analysis of images in paintings, photography and sculptures of dwarfism this work first critiques current descriptions of the aesthetic of disability. Then adhering to a feminist critical disability studies framework - focusing upon the interface of the social milieu with the subject as limited agent - this work analyses a series of photographic representations of the author who is a female artist with achondroplasia. Through analysis of this self-representation, this work endeavours to provide clarification of definition of the disability aesthetic.