Who's Drawing the Lines

Judith Snow is an internationally recognized author and lecturer, and a world leader on inclusiveness issues for people labeled disabled. She has lived a lifetime of quadriplegia. At 12 years of age, she sketched a drawing of a person while at the rehab centre. However, her artistic talents were not nurtured until she was 55 years old. Judith found painting and writing as a means to encompass her own range of human activities and abilities.

Many of Judith’s paintings reflect her innovative approach to art-making: she uses a head-controlled laser to indicate selections, and also works closely with a human “tracker”, who follows her spoken directions in order to express her emotions and create these artworks.

Who’s Drawing the Lines celebrates not only Judith's life, legacy and work as an artist, but also her growing understanding of her own capacities. It illustrates Judith’s journey of emancipation from traditional stereotypes of disability to being an artist and social innovator.

Along the way she learned to appreciate her physical, intellectual and emotional diversity as giftedness rather than disability. The exhibit challenges audiences to confront their perceptions of disability, of what is “normal” and “abnormal”. Visitors will be inspired by her outlook, and experience "all that is in [her] heart" through her art.

On display until January 20, 2012

Hilary and Galen Weston Wing, Level 2

Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, ON Canada