Signs, 2024, vinyl on acrylic, each 10 inches x 6 inches
Signs, 2024, vinyl on acrylic, 10 inches x 6 inches

Signs installed permanently at Kunstraum Kreuzberg/Bethanien in Berlin, Germany. 

Signs, 2024, vinyl on acrylic, 10 inches x 6 inches

Signs installed permanently at Kunstraum Kreuzberg/Bethanien in Berlin, Germany.  

Dis guise, 2024, photo  

I’m not sure when I first had the idea for this disguise, but it came from a desire to minimize the stares, patronization, paternalism, and invasive questioning that occurs as a wheelchair user. By swapping my custom-fitting, lightweight wheelchair for a more common hospital-style chair and fake leg cast, I could be perceived by others as temporarily disabled, or even ironically as “temporarily able-bodied” a term chronically disabled people sometimes use to refer to the currently non-disabled. I’ve thought of this disguise over the years in many contexts: a funny Halloween costume, a way to avoid discrimination during job interviews (or at least get to a hiring stage in which employment laws might offer some small protection), and more recently as a way to blend in with the crowd during protests. 
Upright Nationalism, 2022, video, 4 minutes 18 seconds

For the 12 disabled people in Lebenshilfe Huas (Area of Refuge), 2021, installation, mural, convex mirror

For the 12 disabled people in Lebenshilfe Huas (Area of Refuge), 2021, installation, mural, convex mirror

Buddy System, 2020, installation

Buddy System is informed by Rutgers University’s Office of Institutional Planning’s policy on the “Evacuation of Individuals with Physical Disabilities.” The buddy system is described there as: “During the first week of classes or employment, make acquaintances with fellow students, residents, class members, or office workers. Inform them of any special assistance that may be required in the event of a fire alarm. When the fire alarm sounds, the ‘Buddy’ will make sure of the location of the person with a disability, then go outside and inform emergency personnel that a person in that location needs assistance in leaving the building.” 
Buddy System, 2020, installation

I patched, repaired, and painted the gallery walls using the same shade of white as is used in the public hallways of the Civic Square Building that houses the gallery. I recreated the hallways’ black trim, and accent wall using Rutgers’ official color ‘Scarlet Red’. The mural is on the lower third of the gallery walls and stops at my seated height. The other works in Buddy System hang on top of this mural. Nothing was altered above the mural line including the lighting, which was kept as is from the previous exhibit.
Buddy System (Sign), 2020, silkscreen on found acrylic sign, 11 inches x 9 inches

Sign in the same style used by Rutgers University for way-finding and emergency information. The sign is placed in the emergency evacuation stairwell of whatever floor I am on, alerting fleeing people to my presence in the building, and making them all my “buddies.”
Buddy System (Flag), 2020. Rutgers pennant, wood, duct tape, air 18 inches x 9 feet

The air vent above the flag causes it to wave slightly in front of the window. This follows guidelines in Rutgers University’s Office of Institutional Planning’s policy on the “Evacuation of Individuals with Physical Disabilities,” which states: “If the phone lines fail, the individual [with a disability unable to evacuate] can signal from the window by waving a cloth or other visible object.”

What Goes Up Must Come Down, 2019, photo, 9 feet x 6 inches

Photograph of the length of one wall at my eye-level (32 inches from the ground) hung directly above at conventional hanging height (60 inches from the ground). Privileges my sight line as the primary document, and gives those who are upright or taller an imperfect reproduction instead of the other way around.

(detail) What Goes Up Must Come Down, 2019, photo, 9 feet x 6 inches
Blue (Tile), 2018, acrylic on canvas, reflection in waxed floor, 72 inches x 28 inches




Reach New Heights, 2018, acrylic on canvas, diptych, 38 inches x 48 inches

Access Blues, 2016. acrylic on linen, 8 inches x 10 inches
 

Chloe P. Crawford is an interdisciplinary artist highlighting the labor disabled people undertake to set the conditions for their existence in public spaces. Her work is often exhibited in relation to her perpetually-seated sight-line, challenging conceptions of lowness as a place to be overlooked or convey abjection. She has shown at the Museum für Moderne Kunst (Frankfurt, DE), Artists Space (New York, NY), VAE (Raleigh, NC), and HUA (Berlin, DE). She received fellowships from Ragdale Foundation, Santa Fe Art Institute, and Vermont Studio Center. She has a BFA from The University of the Arts (RIP), an MFA from Mason Gross School of the Arts, and attended the Whitney Museum Independent Study Studio Program. It took her 19 years to obtain enough work credits to qualify to apply for Social Security Disability Insurance. She currently lives in East Lansing, Michigan. 

chloe@chloepascalcrawford.com