Athena Cooper is a visual artist and creativity coach based in Calgary, Canada. Self- taught as an acrylic painter, Athena’s paintings are explorations of what it means to live an extraordinary, ordinary disabled life. Please tell us a bit about yourself! I’d describe myself as someone who has had a pretty wide-ranging set of experiences and…
Interview with Natalie Lloyd, author of bestselling novel Hummingbird I’m Natalie and I’m an elder millennial (born in 1981). I live in Tennessee with my husband, Justin, and our three spoiled dogs. In college, I studied journalism, but creative writing was always my first love. I feel very blessed to be able to say writing…
Interview with Benjamin Mejía, artist & activist from El Salvador Who are you and what is your relationship with OI? I am Benjamin Mejía, I am 28 years old and live in the City of San Salvador, Capital of the Republic of El Salvador, Central America; Currently I am a Fourth Year Student of the…
Unsolicited advice for non-disabled parents of disabled children By Haley Brown, artist from the US Unsolicited parenting advice from someone who isn’t even a parent is…everyone’s favourite thing, right? I know, I know, it can be really rude and annoying. But I wrote this from a place of deep love – for disabled kids AND…
Erwin Aljukic is an actor, dancer, speaker and fashion journalist. Since 1998 he can be seen on TV, in the cinema and at the theater. In addition to acting, he studied fashion journalism and has been working as a freelancer ever since. In 2014 he devoted himself to contemporary dance. Aljukic has been a permanent…
The winner takes it all! What a coincidence! Some time ago OIFE had prepared an interview with Pablo Ostarek, an artist with OI, which you can read below. And this week, we congratulate him for winning the 1st prize in the International Rare Disease Film Festival for his short film “This is not a person”!…
Interview with Jenni-Juulia Wallinheimo-Heimonen Who are you and what do you do and in what way has OI affected your art? I’m a multidisciplinary artist and an activist making political disability arts. My passions are structural violence, aesthetics of assistive devices and issues related to women with disabilities. My background is in textile arts but…
Who are you and what do you do? My name is Chiara and I am a writer/creator and a performer with a disability. I am Italian and I am 35 years old. I work in different fields like performing arts, contemporary theatre and contemporary dance. In what way has OI affected your art? Honestly, I…
Who are you and what do you do? My name is Matt Shilcock, I am a contemporary dancer and performing artist from Adelaide, South Australia. I have been creating and performing dance theatre works in festivals and locations around the world over the last 10 years. I predominately perform Contemporary Dance, but living with OI,…
![[Image shows a gouache/ink/pencil cartoon illustration I made in my sketchbook. Against a black background, a yellow orb frames an illustration of me sitting on the floor, crooked white femme with glasses and hair in a messy bun. I look down lovingly at the ghost of kid-me sitting in my lap, and hold the back of her head gently. She looks back at me and holds juniper (fluffy black cat) in her lap. Around the orb is abstract decorative designs of yellow vines, sparkles, and dots.]](https://oife.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Haley-Brown-illustration-877x470.png)
