Steph Robson, aka Hello Little Lady
A Little Tension
About A Little Tension
A Little Tension is a multi-layered text, visual and podcast piece of work exploring the tensions disabled people experience in everyday society, the barriers faced in the systems we encounter and the disproportionate intrusions we have into our lives. The injustice of the system and the structures meant to serve us have come in to sharp focus during the pandemic.
Exhibition Description
Hello Little Lady is exhibiting a piece of visual and text work with accompanying in depth description. She has also created a podcast on the subject and there is a transcript of the podcast available below.
Content awareness
Contains discriminatory phrases used against disabled people and people with dwarfism, examples of an unjust system stacked against disabled people with reference to PIP claims
A Little Tension is a multi-layered text, visual and podcast piece of work exploring the tensions disabled people experience in everyday society, the barriers faced in the systems we encounter and the disproportionate intrusions we have into our lives. The injustice of the system and the structures meant to serve us have come in to sharp focus during the pandemic.
Exhibition Description
Hello Little Lady is exhibiting a piece of visual and text work with accompanying in depth description. She has also created a podcast on the subject and there is a transcript of the podcast available below.
Content awareness
Contains discriminatory phrases used against disabled people and people with dwarfism, examples of an unjust system stacked against disabled people with reference to PIP claims
A Little Tension Imagery
Press play for audio version of in depth image description (4mins 45sec). Text below.
Hello Little Lady has provided an in depth description of the image
The photo shows a layered piece with three people (a female doctor on the left wearing a white doctors coat, a man wearing a business suit in the middle, with a white-haired, older Doctor sitting on the right with a stethoscope around his neck. The female and male doctors are sitting down, with a cup and saucer in front of them. The businessman is stood in the middle of the other two people, wearing a black suit, white shirt and coloured tie with a stern look on his face. All three people are looking downwards. They are positioned high up in the artwork, giving the impression of their status and also reflects the artist’s own perspective of how people look when sat at a table. This representation aims to show the power imbalance that disabled benefit claimants may face at an assessment for Personal Independence Payments.
Below the people, is play on a newspaper headline with the title “How Far Can You Walk? Below this is the subheading “Claimant awarded another three years as there may be a medical cure within that time”. Both are in big, bold capital letters and represent and reflect the ‘benefit scrounger’ headlines that have been found in certain U.K newspapers over the past 10 years. Below this is a photograph of the artist’s perspective of being sat in an unadapted car - looking straight at a steering wheel. They cannot see over the steering wheel to be able to drive safely. This image is used to show the contrast of the medical model of disability that politicians, policymakers and the media use to describe disabled people in contrast to the artist’s photo that reflects the social model of disability that shows how society is disabling.
The main image is framed with the following statements whoch have been said to the artist at various points in her life.
At the top: Are you going to let your disability define you?
To the left-hand side: If you do not tell us about your medical condition you may be fined £1000
At the bottom to the left of the steering wheel photo: You’re Not Disabled!
At the bottom to the right of the steering wheel photo: You’re Just Little
To the right-hand side, from top to bottom: You’re too sensitive. But - you can walk. You’re normal
At the sides of the main picture. From the left to the bottom and then on the right-hand side:
It’s something bad you’ve done in a past life
Oi! Midget!
Can’t You Take A Joke?!
You can do anything you set your mind to.
There are various easy to read communication icons that are reflective of what you may find on a benefits letter to make it easier to read.
The main photo has a slight transparency added to represent the various layers of society’s influence on a disabled person’s life, showing buildings that are responsible for creating and enacting public policy and political will. At the top of this layer are the Houses of Parliament. In the middle, is a photo of a DWP administration building and at the bottom - highrise office blocks used for assessments located on roads with double yellow lines.
The piece is meant to show the oppressive and threatening nature of how disabled people are treated by certain sections of society, in contrast with how a disabled person actually experiences it.
The photo shows a layered piece with three people (a female doctor on the left wearing a white doctors coat, a man wearing a business suit in the middle, with a white-haired, older Doctor sitting on the right with a stethoscope around his neck. The female and male doctors are sitting down, with a cup and saucer in front of them. The businessman is stood in the middle of the other two people, wearing a black suit, white shirt and coloured tie with a stern look on his face. All three people are looking downwards. They are positioned high up in the artwork, giving the impression of their status and also reflects the artist’s own perspective of how people look when sat at a table. This representation aims to show the power imbalance that disabled benefit claimants may face at an assessment for Personal Independence Payments.
Below the people, is play on a newspaper headline with the title “How Far Can You Walk? Below this is the subheading “Claimant awarded another three years as there may be a medical cure within that time”. Both are in big, bold capital letters and represent and reflect the ‘benefit scrounger’ headlines that have been found in certain U.K newspapers over the past 10 years. Below this is a photograph of the artist’s perspective of being sat in an unadapted car - looking straight at a steering wheel. They cannot see over the steering wheel to be able to drive safely. This image is used to show the contrast of the medical model of disability that politicians, policymakers and the media use to describe disabled people in contrast to the artist’s photo that reflects the social model of disability that shows how society is disabling.
The main image is framed with the following statements whoch have been said to the artist at various points in her life.
At the top: Are you going to let your disability define you?
To the left-hand side: If you do not tell us about your medical condition you may be fined £1000
At the bottom to the left of the steering wheel photo: You’re Not Disabled!
At the bottom to the right of the steering wheel photo: You’re Just Little
To the right-hand side, from top to bottom: You’re too sensitive. But - you can walk. You’re normal
At the sides of the main picture. From the left to the bottom and then on the right-hand side:
It’s something bad you’ve done in a past life
Oi! Midget!
Can’t You Take A Joke?!
You can do anything you set your mind to.
There are various easy to read communication icons that are reflective of what you may find on a benefits letter to make it easier to read.
The main photo has a slight transparency added to represent the various layers of society’s influence on a disabled person’s life, showing buildings that are responsible for creating and enacting public policy and political will. At the top of this layer are the Houses of Parliament. In the middle, is a photo of a DWP administration building and at the bottom - highrise office blocks used for assessments located on roads with double yellow lines.
The piece is meant to show the oppressive and threatening nature of how disabled people are treated by certain sections of society, in contrast with how a disabled person actually experiences it.
A Little Tension Podcast
|
About Steph Robson, aka Hello Little Lady Hello Little Lady is an artist and creative practitioner using visual, written, audio and participatory practices to explore the Dwarfism community’s lived experiences. Her debut exhibition ‘You’re Just Little’ in 2018 revealed the obstacles, challenges and societal assumptions Dwarf people face every day. The participatory elements participants from the Dwarfism community in the U.K, the U.S.A, and Australia that challenges the notion of perspective and gaze on the gallery wall. Steph’s passion is to give a voice and the platform to the Dwarfism community through creative arts. To enable and empower Dwarf people to be in control of how their narratives and stories are published in a world that often ridicules and objectifies our bodies within society rather than showing compassion and understanding of this disability. Her work explores the themes of accessibility, othering and the tensions between the disability and society. |
|
