Throughout November and December, our branch is proudly exhibiting the artwork of local Seddon artist, Larissa McFarlane. This exhibition of linocuts explores and celebrates aspects of Disability history and culture.
It includes portraits of important, yet mostly not well known, disabled women who have left a valuable legacy that has influenced change nationally and internationally. Other artworks explore aspects of disabled life and point to a collective understanding of experience that can be recognised as a distinct and unique culture, one that has much potential to be celebrated with pride.
Larissa MacFarlane (they/she) is a proud disabled artist and activist, of Scottish descent, living on the unceded lands of the Kulin Nation, in Melbourne’s West.
They work across a printmaking, street art, performance and community art practice and use their experiences of a 25-year-old brain injury to investigate Disabled culture, community, identity and pride. They are well known for their street art, investigating their daily ritual of performing handstands, a key part of their disability culture and symbol of Disability Pride.
Larissa has been active in the Disability Justice movement for over two decades, working locally and nationally to advance the human rights of all disabled people. They founded the Snapshots of Seddon in 2005 as an inclusive community art project. In 2017, they produced Australia’s first Disability Pride mural, leading 50 disabled artists to create a large-scale paste up in Footscray, alongside a book and short film to document its now infamous story.
Their latest mural, commissioned by the City of Melbourne, can now be seen in the central CBD at Royal Lane.
View Larissa’s artwork from now until the end of December
90 Charles Street, Seddon
Monday – Friday 9.30am – 4.00pm
