Celebrating Artists with Disabilities

To celebrate International Day of People with Disability on December 3rd, local NDIS and Disability Employment Service provider Castle Personnel are hosting an inclusive art exhibition at Newcastle City Library.

The exhibition features an array of artworks, created by people who have an injury, illness or mental health condition in the Newcastle, Hunter and Central Coast regions.

“The diversity of the artworks displayed reflect the spectrum of disabilities, highlighting each artist’s unique experience with illness, injury and mental health conditions. We are proud to support these artists and provide a space where they can share these experiences with the community,” said Castle CEO Dianne Hamer.

Samantha Ogilvie lost her eyesight as a child due to cancer and uses her artistic talents to showcase her perspective of the world as a person with a visual impairment.

“I’ve had people tell me that they feel like I’m missing out because I can’t see a sunrise, or I don’t know what my nieces and nephews look like and this way I can actually show them that that’s not true. I may not see the world in the same way as people who can see, but I can still see the world and see the things around me,” she said.

Samantha believes art can be used to educate people about disabilities “because it’s done in a fun way and it can be done in a story, so it’s not so confronting, or it doesn’t make people feel quite so uncomfortable.”

The exhibition will be launched at Newcastle City Library on 3 December and will be available to the public until 11 December. The library is located at 15 Laman Street, Newcastle and admission to the event is free.

LIBRARY HOURS:

9:30am to 8pm Monday to Thursday

9:30am to 6pm Friday

9:30am to 2pm Saturday