A multi art form installation about different ways of being.

Kickstart Arts’ Portraits of Invisible People takes us on a physical, emotional and intellectual journey through the personal stories of people whose lives have been changed forever due to a brain injury.

The show asks its audience to consider the nature of fate, memory, grief, truth, and relationship through extraordinary storytelling, metaphors of space, experience and time, video, stunning photography and sound. Kickstart Arts, Headway rebuilding lives, community participants and artists collaborated to develop a deep, heartfelt personal story telling that offers powerful insights into what’s most important in life.

From late February 2010 four professional artists have worked closely with people living with acquired brain injuries, their family members and support workers to explore what life is like if you have a brain injury. Project curator/writer Richard Bladel, photographer Sean Fennessy, filmmaker Troy Melville and designer/builder Uwe Feiste have collaborated with these community members to draw out their unique and profound perspectives on life.

The project began in early 2009, and has been produced through a ground-breaking partnership between the arts, health and community sectors. Since that time, Kickstart Arts has brought together 8 professional CACD (community arts and cultural development) artists to work with disability service organisation Headway rebuilding lives and 20 survivors of Acquired Brain Injury (ABI). The participants saw this as an extraordinary opportunity to tell their stories and to raise awareness of ABI in the broader community.

In this installation, Kickstart Arts is focusing on providing a truly accessible cultural experience for a broad audience including people with disabilities. We believe accessibility is more than just a special ramp and toilet. The provision of audio description of the entire show for people with visual impairment, pictures hung at wheelchair height and a wheelchair-friendly designed space are part of our effort to provide equity of access. As far as we know, this is unique in Tasmania.

EXHIBITION DETAILS FOR 2010
Media Launch – 11am Long Gallery 6th August
Exhibition Opening – 6 pm Friday 6th August
Exhibition runs from Saturday 7th August – Sunday 15th August
Long Gallery, First floor, Salamanca Arts Centre, 77 Salamanca Place, Hobart