WHEN: Tuesday evenings from 6-7:30pm CST

September 14th- November 16th

COST: $65 General Admission ($50 Student/Recent Grads)

WHERE: Zoom!

INSTRUCTOR: Kean O’Brien (he/they)

How can we begin to consider our own personal relationship to chronic illness, disability, and mental health within the context of both capitalism and the medical industrial complex (defined as the network of corporations which supply health care services and products for a profit)? These systems leave no room for exploration and questions, only space for shame, guilt, fear, and silence. In this 8 week reading and making group, Kean O’Brien will work with participants to explore this question through weekly readings, related art pieces, as well as creative exercises for us to explore disability studies as well as personal art making practices. Intersectionality will be an important component of this course as the group looks at how power structures affect and oppress many.

This course is open to anybody interested in learning and understanding how chronic illness, disability, and mental health affect all of us; both individually and collectively. Authors will include Milo W Obourn, Alice Wong, Kim Q. Hale, Robert McRuer, Alison Kafer and more. All texts will be provided via PDF documents distributed to the group weekly.

In this course participants will:

• Demonstrate knowledge of key concepts, methods, and artistic practices at the intersection of disability studies and visual culture

• Develop ability to critically and creatively extend, challenge, and revise concepts of ones’ art practice

• Relate ones’ embodied position to a collective understanding of disability, illness and mental health

Accessibility Tools that are available if needed:

• Live transcription

• ASL interpretation

• Transcript of each class sent after

• Access to large font texts

• Image descriptions

This class will be meeting on Zoom on Tuesday evenings from 6-7:30pm CST from September 14th- November 16th with a 2 week break on October 12th and 19th. Spots will be limited to 12 participants so grab your spot early! If you are unable to attend the in person sessions for any reason, this class will be available for asynchronous participation as well through Google classroom. Please indicate on the class form which way you’ll be participating.

Questions? Email education@latitudechicago.org.

Please Note: LATITUDE never wants finances to stand in the way of participation in our programs. Please reach out to us to discuss financial assistance at education@latitudechicago.org

Refund Policy: For all LATITUDE courses, full payment is required to reserve your spot in the class. If you need to cancel your reservation for any reason, LATITUDE can provide a 100% credit towards future online classes. No refunds for Online classes can be provided at this time.

Image credit: Kean O’Brien