ACCENTUATE CURATING VISIBILITY
RECLAIMING & INTERPRETING DISIBLITY COLLECTIONS
COMMISSIONED BY SCREEN SOUTH: NOV 24 - JUL 25
Disabled people and their heritage are seriously underrepresented within our museums. Objects lie hidden or underexplored, as curators without lived experience of disability can struggle to tell authentic disability history stories. Curating Visibility focuses on museum collections, shining a light on these neglected narratives through an authentic disability lived experience perspective. This project is led by Screen South’s Accentuate team, funded by Arts Council England and Art Fund.
Two curatorial Fellows on the Curating Visibility programme, Anahita Harding (Food Museum) and Cat Waites (IWM Duxford) wanted to create a sound piece as their final output of their respective fellowships.
They both needed creative support to envision this sound intervention, as well as support in developing the shape of the intervention with their co-production groups as well as technical and production support.
Both curators worked with a group of disabled voluntary co-producers to ideate and develop their respective exhibitions.
Lucia Scazzocchio provided audio content creation, co-production support and mentor services for Anahita Harding (Fellow, Food Museum) and Cat Waites (Fellow, IWM Duxford) to support the development of an audio ‘intervention’ to be installed at the Food Museum and IWM Duxford respectively.
Food not Cuts - Food Museum Suffolk
Food not Cuts explores how food and care are connected. It highlights how cuts to care and a lack of support can make accessing food difficult for deaf, disabled and neurodivergent people.
This digital sound intervention has been created by Anahita Harding, Curating Visibility Fellow at the Food Museum with audio producer Lucia Scazzocchio and a group of co-producers. The piece explores disabled people’s experience of sourcing, cooking and eating food through a series of cooking workshops delivered at the Food Museum. This digital sound work is complimented by displays of items from the collection and art works by Elora Kadir, Roo Dhissou and Em-Dash (Aarushi Matiyani and Saundra Liemantoro).
We Will Not Be Left Behind - Duxford Imperial War Museum
Created in partnership with Screen South’s Accentuate programme as part of the Curating Visibility project, this immersive, accessible experience brings to light the resilience, challenges, and contributions of deaf and disabled individuals during wartime.
A digital soundscape accessed via headphones, blending archival audio, music, and personal testimonies produced by Lucia Scazzocchio captures stories of courage and community, including journalist John Carveth Wells’ account of navigating London during the Blitz as a wheelchair user, and a recreated conversation from the Guinea Pig Club, a network for British and Allied aircrew who underwent pioneering reconstructive surgery after being injured during the Second World War.
The voice actors are all Imperial War Museum staff.
Curation: Catherine Waites and Anahita Harding
Audio Production and support: Lucia Scazzocchio
Project Managers: Ruth Garde, Esther Fox, Emily Goff