Access and inclusion - a force for creativity

Curated by Deakin’s James Lynch, this project surveys the creative practice and research of artist and academic Fayen d’Evie, spanning recent years and her expansive and inclusive approach to the making and reception of art.

“This exhibition focuses on d’Evie’s ongoing collaborative projects with a range of interdisciplinary artistic colleagues including print specialist Trent Walter, performance maker Alex Craig, blind sculptor Aaron McPeake, photo-based artist Hillary Goidell, paintings by San Francisco based artist and disability advocate Jennifer Justice, choreographer Benjamin Hancock and Deakin Alumnus and internationally acclaimed dancer, Anna Seymour.

Born profoundly deaf with Auslan as her first language, Seymour has collaborated with d’Evie in various ways since 2019 and is now a core dancer with Candoco Dance Company in London,” Lynch says.

“It is an enormous privilege to develop and present this exhibition to the Deakin and broader community.”

d’Evie’s critical artistic practice and research is having an international impact. In recent times d’Evie has published significant texts that contribute to international dialogues around the visual arts, museology and access, including essays for Sternberg’s Art Writing in Crisis (2021), Routledge’s Curating Access: Disability Art Activism and Creative Accommodation (2022) and an introductory provocation piece for Post-humanity, Routledge’s Companion to Audiences and the Performing Arts (2022).

At the same time, d’Evie developed major new projects for the Museum of Contemporary Art, Bella Room commission, Sydney (2022); for West Space, Melbourne (2021); and a project as part of the Adelaide//International at the SAMSTAG Museum of Art, Adelaide (2021).

d’Evie advocates blindness as a critical position that radically agitates ocular normative biases, offering instead methods for navigating many different multi-sensory conversations. In this exhibition her approach includes artworks that use sound, touch, movement, performance, print and language to explore the limits of the visual arts, how it is received and who gets to participate.

The Deakin University Art Gallery is delighted to have this opportunity to feature d’Evie’s ground-breaking creative research in depth.

Interviews with the artist and curator are available by request.

Details of the exhibition

WHAT: Fayen d’Evie: I brave a whirlwind of dust, while those about me close their eyes …

WHEN: Monday 10 July - Friday 11 August 2023

WHERE: Deakin University Art Gallery, Building FA, Melbourne Burwood Campus, 221 Burwood Highway, Burwood

The Deakin University Art Gallery is open Monday to Friday from 11am to 5pm, and entry is free.

Fayen d’Evie will also be giving a free keynote lecture at Deakin University’s Burwood Campus on Thursday 20 July from 12.15pm to 1.30pm. Audiences are available to attend in person or online via Zoom webinar. Please register via Eventbrite by Friday 14 July.