My Will Remains: Reflections on Chronic Illness and Disability
UBUNTU: I am because we are: July - August 2018

"'My will remains' is a quote by the Mexican artist Frida Kahlo (1907-54). About fifteen years ago, I started to see my life with chronic illness and disability reflected in Frida’s life through her self-portraits and her need to work in bed due to chronic pain and fatigue. I started to create art showing my solidarity with Frida. This was a jumping off point as I began to uncover the stories of artists with disabilities. My exhibit dialogues with artists such as Frida Kahlo, Claude Monet, Maud Lewis, Vincent Van Gogh and Andy Warhol, all who had disabilities. Through painting, sculpture, and poetry I unveil our experiences of living with chronic illness and disability, and the uncertainties and certainties that it brings." --Diane Driedger

"Ubuntu is an African word meaning “humanity. It is often translated as “I am because we are.” Using the simplest forms of visual language − colour, line, and shape − this exhibit is an abstract representation of humanity through recognition of others in their uniqueness and differences. Shapes begin talking to each other – defining themselves by their slight differences. These shapes and colours aren’t just marks that I like or hope you will like, they’re interacting together in the simplest form of visual language to depict the oneness of humanity. We live in an interconnected world, and nothing happens in isolation. An event in one place cannot be contained by borders; it spreads around mountains and across oceans. It sends people fleeing in search of places to breathe, live, and just be." --Manny Martins-Karman