Negotiate

There are several definitions for the word ‘negotiate’. It can be understood as ‘having formal discussions with someone, in order to reach an agreement’, ‘to travel along a difficult route’ or ‘to deal with something difficult’. Negotiate responds to a policy developed by Project Arts Centre in 2021 – Towards Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (TEDI). This work includes responses from three artists with disabilities including Emilie Conway, Róisín Power Hackett and Sighile Hennessy, who work across a variety of different media and contexts.

All three artists know what it is like to negotiate inequality, exclusion, and ableism on a daily basis. Ableism is insidious, it is ingrained in public laws and policies, in all government departments, in our health care, public transport, and education. Every system is made ableist. The general-public and sometimes even our doctors, teachers, parents, family, and friends are ableist or benevolently ableist without even knowing it.

Read “Negotiate” here.

Written by: Emilie Conway Róisín Power Hackett Sighile Hennessy.

Untitled and Consultation 2022 by Emilie Conway.

Photographs by Emilie Conway, Eoin Byrne and Luke Brabazon.

Our TEDI Commissions have been produced in partnership with RTÉ Culture.

Project Arts Centre is proudly supported by The Arts Council and Dublin City Council.