The week leading up to my 10 AM trek to the Tangled Art Gallery for a class field trip had been physically and emotionally exhausting. I deal with anxiety and depression on a daily basis—name a more iconic duo… I’ll wait. September was a very long, busy month, I had a stomach flu, and—you get it. I was tired. I didn’t want to go.
But I’m so glad I did.
The Tangled Art Gallery (TAG) is a new space that aims to better represent disability arts in Toronto. It is free to the public and offers audio description, “relaxed” gallery hours, ASL interpretation at exhibit openings and events, wheelchair accessibility, and it also allows service animals. In addition, all of the art is hung at accessible levels. Its inaugural season features “textile work, painting, performance art, media arts, and multi-sensorial installations.” Deep importance is given to the intersections of disability with race, gender, Indigeneity, and aging. The exhibitions are curated by artists with disabilities, so anyone who engages with TAG will be able to truly increase their understanding of disability, and appreciation of disability arts.
The exhibit currently on display at TAG is called “Mad Room” and is curated by Gloria Swain, a black feminist woman in her 60s who is sharing work inspired by her anxiety and depression. Her pieces explore themes such as the intersections of misogyny, systemic racism, ageism, domestic and sexual abuse, forced medication, and depression. She uses mediums such as acrylic paint and ink, often combining them to make textured art.
Gloria’s work was incredibly moving. As a woman of colour, I often feel as though I’m not allowed to talk about my own experiences with mental illness. Women are often dismissed for showing any emotion on a level higher than one (on a scale of one to one thousand) while men are lauded for being anything other than stoic. Take, for example, the connection that Sandra Song from Paper Mag drew between the way that the internet reacted to musicians Kehlani and Scott Mescudi (Kid Cudi)’s respective public battles with mental illness.
Kehlani was hospitalized because online harassment drove her to attempt suicide. Upon recovering, the jokes were merciless, and it seemed that no one pitied her because she had allegedly cheated on her boyfriend. Mescudi checked himself into rehab and the Internet launched the hashtag #YouGoodMan, supporting him and other black men who have mental illnesses. While I am so glad that conversation was opened up about black men who deal with mental illnesses, I wish the same respect and concern was given to the women of colour who need it.
Being racialized takes away from how much I can open up about my mental illnesses as well. Every time I try to discuss the familial problems that cause me major depression and anxiety, stereotypes engulf the way I am perceived. E.g., “Oh, yeah, I’ve heard that Indian parents are really strict… do they want you to get married… they probably want you to focus on school and become a doctor… that’s just the way it is with brown people, right?”
My issues are taken less seriously than those of white people who feel comfortable talking about their mental health.
Gloria Swain’s art spoke to me because it was honest, personal, and introspective. The pieces that stuck out to me the most were a painting of four ghostly figures which Gloria later explained were the ghosts of her ancestors who were looking after her, and a long scroll on which Gloria had written all the names of black women killed by white police officers in the past few years.
I cannot relate directly to Gloria’s work and I won’t pretend that her message about living with anxiety in an anti-black society was for me, but it meant a lot to me to see her work. I felt supported by the people in the room. I felt empowered by seeing the art of a marginalized woman on the walls in a big gallery.
Even if you can’t identify with any of these themes, I strongly encourage you to check out the Tangled Art Gallery. Gloria’s exhibit is on until December 3rd, 2016.
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