A Garden and a Library

A Garden and a Library consists of a portable flower garden that is structurally designed to be wheelchair accessible, and a library with publications that explores ideas at the intersection of accessible gardening, labour, disability justice, and restorative practice.

Designed with wheels, the accessible flower bed, due to its movability, furthers the goal of providing individuals of all abilities with the opportunity to participate in the joy of gardening. This project conceptualizes gardening as a counter-labor to capitalist labor and the garden as a site of discourse, while also offering the opportunity for quiet moments of rest.

This project was developed through Mayworks’ Labour Arts Catalyst in collaboration with the Disability Justice Network of Ontario.

Co-presented with Tangled Art + Disability.

Atanas Bozdarov is an artist and designer whose recent projects have explored systems and structures of accessibility, and architectural propositions for public space. He received his MDes from OCAD University, and teaches design in the University of Toronto Mississauga and Sheridan College’s joint Art and Art History program.

Shulamit Sappire (Shully) is a wellness practitioner, writer, facilitator, and community advocate. In their various capacities, Shully creates environments that redefine wellness by centering community involvement and fostering spaces where different worlds intersect. Drawing from personal experiences as a sick, queer, black individual, their efforts center around disability justice, gender, race, and caregiving.

Disability Justice Network of Ontario works with community members locally in Hamilton and across Ontario to advocate for the rights of people with disabilities. Their aim is to build a just and accessible Ontario, wherein people with disabilities have personal and political agency, can thrive and foster community, and to build the power, capacity, and skills needed to hold people, communities, and institutions responsible for the spaces they create.

Tangled Art + Disability Based in Toronto, Tangled Art + Disability is boldly redefining how the world experiences art and those who create it. We are a not-for-profit art + disability organization dedicated to connecting professional and emerging artists, the arts community, and a diverse public through creative passion and artistic excellence. Our mandate is to support disability-identified artists, to cultivate Disability Arts in Canada, and to enhance access to the arts for artists and all audiences.