I strongly believe that every work of art made by a disabled person is already disabled art, regardless of its thematic content. Same goes for any other defining element of one's identity. Who we are is not something we can put aside. All my work is Jewish because I am Jewish. All my art is queer art because I am queer. Artists of various minority identities are unfortunately often expected to commodify their experiences of trauma and disenfranchisement if they wish to get artistic career opportunities. Therefore, I find it important to advocate for giving artists the freedom to tell their stories in ways that fit them best.

I am a theatre and circus artist, and my current work-in-progress ‘The Barbette Project’ is a show that's part historical research, part autobiographical explorations of gender then and now. It tells the true story of Barbette, a legendary gender-bending trapeze artist and queer icon, woven with the lived experiences of LGBT+ artists today. For WAIWAV I have created ‘strange beauty’, a performance piece inspired by photos of Barbette captured by Surrealist Jewish photographer Man Ray, and their intersection with my identity as a queer, neurodivergent Jew.

When asked why he created his act, Barbette replied: “I wanted an act that would be a thing of beauty—of course, it would have to be a strange beauty”; and what is surrealism if not Strange Beauty? Are queer, disabled and neurodivergent bodies an expression of a strange beauty, not quite matching up to society's rigid boxes of what beauty is? Barbette, in her act of gender fuckery, fluctuating between masculinity and femininity, wanted to be Strange Beauty incarnated—could I be, too?

My intervention challenges people's perception of what ‘strange’ and ‘beautiful’ mean to them by asking them to make me a living, breathing embodiment of surrealist artwork. I will be available to audiences in the gallery as a living doll, and accompanied by a variety of objects – wardrobe items, makeup, accessories, shoes – objects feminine, masculine and in between for audiences to play with. Not everything will be standard. There will also be natural materials, recyclable materials, non-traditional materials—various surprising options for audiences to play with... The only guiding principle will be: ‘make me pretty’.

Am I beautiful? Can I be made beautiful? What makes a body beautiful? What is beauty? Who gets to define it? And why do we give a fuck about being beautiful anyway?

This is not a Marina Abramovic style experiment; there will be nothing available that can cause harm or damage, and more importantly I will not be inanimate or passive. People will be required to ask my consent for anything and everything they want to use on me – though I will not advise or give my own opinions re: aesthetic choices; just my consent.

Web: stavmeishar.com

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