Paper short abstract

This paper considers the work of artists who use sensory media installations to evoke and represent their personal experience of disability. I will consider their work in order to critically reflect on the potential of incorporating artistic methods into anthropology.

Paper long abstract

This paper considers, from the anthropological perspective, the conceptual and creative processes where artists use complex sensory and digital media to communicate their personal experience of physical disability. I will discuss my engagements with the artists and their work in order to critically reflect on the potential of incorporating artistic methods into anthropology oriented towards sensory ethnography and digital media installations. Forms of representation, evocation and collaboration I will consider can have a particular impact on anthropological work focused on bodily states, medical conditions and sensorial experience. These case studies will also allow me to critically evaluate approaches to anthropology and art as distinct and, at times, radically alternate disciplines — modes of creative practice and communication.