Amy Amantea is a white settler on the stolen lands of the Squamish, Musqueam, and Tsleil-Waututh first peoples. She lives in colonial North Vancouver, BC. She participated in the DAAA as an interviewee.
Amy is a performer, creator, and writer with lived experience of blindness, neurodiversity, chronic illness, and chronic pain. She describes herself as an artist of opportunity: She collaborates with anyone who wants to make art, in any form. She brings her lived experience to any art she is involved in.
Amy also works with artists and arts organizations on accessibility. She wants to keep the conversation around access, inclusion, and representation alive through her own work and the work of others with lived experience of disability.
Image description: Cappuccino the cat posing on a green mat on top of a purple and pink desk drawer container.
I am a white settler on the stolen lands of the Squamish, Musqueam, and Tsleil-Waututh first peoples, residing in colonial North Vancouver, BC.
I feel very privileged to have been invited to participate in the DAAA as an Interviewee.
I am an artist: A performer, creator, and writer with lived experience of blindness, neurodiversity, chronic illness, and chronic pain that have a profound impact on my life.
I want to see more representation of the disability experience in all parts of the artistic experience. With approximately 25 percent of the population identifying with disability, we see an unbalanced reflection of representation in the arts. I hope to see more equitable opportunities and to continue the conversation around access, inclusion, and representation.
I contribute to representation and the conversation around access, inclusion, and representation through content creation and by working on accessibility with artists and arts organizations. I work on accessibility in areas such as shows and performances; workshops and programming; and education, mentorship, and work opportunities. These ideas were not on my mind until I became someone with a disability. I realize that many others may be in the same place. This is no longer an “excuse” to not do the work but rather a motivation for me to keep the conversation around access, inclusion, and representation alive and to invite others with disabilities to join in and have their voices heard.
I define myself as an artist of opportunity: I will collaborate with anyone who wants to make art, in any form. In this way I get to experience and learn about a variety of mediums from a variety of people. It is important to me to bring my lived experience into any kind of art piece that I am a part of. This means embracing a disability aesthetic, and, in some cases, looking to “edutain” an audience. [“Edutain” is a combination of the words “educate” and “entertain”.] Some of my work is more aligned with disability justice, and some of it strikes a different balance between observation, education, and activism.
I have been excited by the works of notable artists that have lived experience of disability, including but not limited to: Persimmon Blackbridge, David Roche, James Sanders, and Geoff McMurchy. They have all been a fantastic influence on me as a creator and educator. I want to continue a legacy of “saying something” in my work and trailblazing a path for up-and-coming artists. I want to make the disability arts movement a more recognized and respected part of our artistic landscape in Canada.
I am currently working with Theatre Replacement on a project called “Through My Lens”. It focuses on my intersection of photography and blindness. I invite individuals to have their portrait taken by me in
my photography studio while I ask them to describe to me some of the photos that I have taken over the years, as I have never really seen them.
Another project I am currently working on is “Disability Tour Bus”, a play that I co-wrote and will perform in for Realwheels Theatre. In “Disability Tour Bus”, we invite our audience to board an actual city bus for a tour of Vancouver while a play unfolds and inequities are brought to the forefront—and perhaps a love story too.
What a privilege it is to be an artist!
Artwork description: A large greyscale illustration drawn in a digital medium that mimics charcoal. Three people are drawn from the waist up. Together they hold a glowing, blooming light source in their hands, nurturing it and supporting each other. The outlines of the people are brightly lit by the blooming light, while their bodies fade into the dark around them. The person in the middle has their face illuminated, their glossy eyes closed, and long, wavy hair frames their face and body. The people to their right and left have their backs to the viewer. The person to the left is tall and has long braided hair. The person to the right is shorter than the others and has short hair in tight curls. The artist’s signature in the bottom right corner says “Valen ‘22”.
Events related to participant.
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Disability Arts &
Activism Archive