BIOGRAPHY
Emily Sara (she/her) is a queer, disabled, neurodivergent, artist, designer, writer, organizer, alt educator—and is a 2024 DF Fellow United States Artists, Mellon Foundation, and Ford Foundation, . She specializes in Accessible Design, a practice which cohabitates with her active studio practice. Using the language of advertising and animation, her art critiques the Medical Industrial Complex (MIC) and societal control over disabled bodies.
In the coming year her work is being exhibited and/or published by MoMA, Victoria & Albert Museum, Carnegie Museum of Art, Tufts University Art Galleries (TUAG), The John Michael Kohler Arts Center and the Institute of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles.
Founder of two initiatives, she is editor-in-chief at cripple, a publishing initiative that exclusively supports disabled artists and designers—and SICK AND TIRED, a disabled-run, studio-based org dedicated to the power of education and collaboration.
Emily received her undergraduate degree from Boston University and her MFA from Cranbrook Academy of Art. She is the author of the article Fighting the Art World’s Ableism published by Hyperallergic and has lectured and held workshops at institutions such as Yale School of Art, Otis College of Art and Design, Virginia Commonwealth University, and University of Richmond. She is presently conducting research for Center for Book Arts and NYU Steinhardt on the intersections of access and book design.
Additionally, Emily is currently collaborating on publications and mini documentaries via cripple, giving lectures throughout the so-called U.S., and fabricating a new series of sculptures/drawings when her body allows. She is also applying for a service dog, searching for an affordable accessible van for her wheelchair, attempting to keep her chronic pain at 7 out of 10 or lower, and staying alive.
For an up-to-date cv please contact emily@sickandtired.studio
