The imagery of Cirque Du Soleil is globally recognized for its aesthetic beauty, the grace of fluid bodies performing defying acts.
Not often are these descriptions given to the disabled...until now.
Sins Invalid's work is a vibrant necessity in this age of bland complacency. They take the medical and societal parameters that have historically relegated the disabled citizen to a less than second class position and they throw it aside.
The art that is presented brings the intersectionality of race, gender, class, and ability and throws it in your face, forcing the viewer to come to terms with how these realities are not so different and yet so different for those with disabilities. And this is beautifully done with the erotic and the body.
Feminists are quite familiar with the politics of the body. How familiar are feminists with the issues that surround persons with disabilities?
The medical model, as often brought to the forefront with reproductive rights, illustrates how the medical industry continues eugenics with regular genetic testing on the fetus. If a fetus is shown to have a defect, the usual course is abortion. Why is this a normality? What is spoken in our society that says what is outside of societal norms is wrong? Are only "perfect" babies acceptable? Isn't the argument of financial costs a reflection of our health system rather than a reason for deeming a group of people inferior?
Looking upon the video of the wheelchair suspension, the imagery of Cirque du Soleil comes to mind. The dance of the body and metal as one, the musculature of the body glistening in the spotlight, the amazing ability of a person who outside of this performance would have their competence questioned...
Sins Invalid brings to the forefront many important issues and questions that is crucial for all activist movements to bring under their wing. Marginalization of any group of persons is detrimental to all.
Sins Invalid shows that the issues we fight for can come in many forms...their form illustrates the beauty of sensuality and the beauty of all bodies...especially when stripped of limiting ideology.
