A local artist is asking people across Devon to share their memories and experiences of the Disability Arts movement as part of a national heritage project.
James Lake from Exeter is supporting ‘Cripping Culture: A Journey into Disability Arts Heritage’, a major new project run by disabled-led charitable arts organisation, Disability Arts Online, supported through funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund. The project aims to save the stories of the Disability Arts movement from being lost and will share them through an accessible digital archive, interactive timeline and podcast series. (Cripping, like queering, uses a reclaimed word to apply a disability lens to culture.)
James is a sculptor artist who predominately uses the medium of readily available reclaimed and recycled cardboard. He has exhibited with Shape Arts, and was recently a nominee of the Adam Reynolds Award, a prominent UK-based prize established to support and celebrate mid-career disabled artists. He is a neurodivergent artist and survived bone cancer at the age of seventeen which left him with many scars and a significant physical disability. It was around this time that his practice developed as a process that was inclusive, accessible and economically attainable for himself and others. He takes this process and ethos into schools as a teacher and arts practitioner, to inspire budding artists of all ages and backgrounds.
James said:
“My connection to the disability arts movement spans 25yrs. In this time I have worked with thousands of teachers and students in schools as a visibly disabled man and artist with a disability. It is this visibility and connection with a wide cross section of society that informs my work supporting the disability arts movement.”
The Cripping Culture project would like to hear from anyone like James with a link to the Disability Arts movement and is inviting them to contribute their own stories to the collection. These could be memories of an event, show or exhibition they attended, something they read, an artist they met, an organisation they were involved with or anything else related to disability arts.
Speaking about the importance of contributing to Cripping Culture, James said:
“It feels more important now than ever to share and keep alive the story of disability arts. We are living in a time where histories and memories are being rewritten, conveniently forgotten or just left to fade.”
Contributions are welcome from people of all backgrounds including artists, writers, producers, performers, curators, musicians, activists or audience members. By getting as many people as possible from Devon involved, DAO hopes to capture previously untold stories from the area and shed new light on key moments in the Disability Arts movement’s history. DAO is especially keen to hear from people who are part of the global majority and have intersectional experiences of disability.
By gathering the stories and sharing them for anyone to access and engage with online, Cripping Culture aims to support the development of a culture that embraces disabled people’s stories and fills in gaps in existing knowledge.
To share your story, visit disabilityarts.online/cripping-culture and submit the online form. Contributions can be text, video, audio or photos that help illustrate your memory. We want to know how the memory or experience contributed to both your life and the Disability Arts movement. You can share multiple stories about different events, projects, artists or organisations, and these can be told in English or British Sign Language. DAO can offer access support for anyone who might require it to submit their contribution.
Colin Hambrook, Heritage Project Director, said:
“It doesn’t matter who you are, if you have a story to tell that involves disability arts in the UK, then we want to hear from you. Everyone who shares a memory will play an important part in the Cripping Culture project, saving our heritage for future generations.
“It is important for the legacy of the Disability Arts movement that we capture stories of events from Devon that may have not been previously recorded. We want to celebrate the vast breadth of disability arts activity that has occurred across time. We are grateful to James for helping us share this call out far and wide and would love other people to get involved too."
The Cripping Culture contributions call out is open until Friday 14 August 2026.
To find out more about the project and share your story visit disabilityarts.online/cripping-culture
'Cripping Culture: A Journey into Disability Arts Heritage’ is a three year project and has received almost £250,000 in funding from The National Lottery Heritage Fund.
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