[Transcript of, "Creative Control", produced by Rooted in Rights]

[AUDIO DESCRIPTION]: Rooted in Rights presents Creative Control with Shannon Finnegan.

SHANNON: I am Shannon Finnegan,

I'm an artist,

I'm a white woman, early 30s,

I have kind of shoulder-length blonde hair

that is a little bit extra wind tossed today,

'cause it's been very windy in New York.

I'm here at Eyebeam in Brooklyn, New York.

Eyebeam is a  nonprofit arts organization

that is really thinking about
artists who are engaged with technology.

I proposed a specific project for this residency

which is recontextualizing alt-text
as a type of poetry

and using that as a way to engage more people,

specifically artists,

in creating descriptions for images they're producing.

[AUDIO DESCRIPTION]: A paper card
with the words, "Artists for Alt-Text" in blue.

SHANNON: I feel like so often access is
pushed into this realm of compliance,

it's all about checking a box.

As a disabled person,

interacting with accessibility
that is created by other disabled people,

that's a more creative process,

that's more centered in relationship building,

is, I think, really valuable
and feels much better

in terms of the types of experiences I want to have.

A project that I've done around physical space

has been this museum bench project.

The benches are made out of plywood,

they're painted this bright blue color,

and then they have these kind of
handwritten all-caps text on them,

so one says,

"This exhibition has asked me to stand for too long,
sit if you agree,"

and the other one says,
"I'd rather be sitting, sit if you agree."

As an artist I visit a lot of museums

and it's really hard on my body
to stand for long periods of time

and I was just surprised
at how few benches there were.

I think when I think about accessibility,

a lot of it is these really long-term systemic changes

that are gonna need to happen

in order to, I think, create the type of world 
that we really want.

But there's some things that seem like
we could really have them now.

The museum benches are a way of

protesting the inaccessibility of those spaces

while also providing comfort and rest.

Something that I think a lot about is,

"How can I make work in a way
that is really suited to my body

and the ways that I move through the world?"

I was really interested in making bigger work,

but it's really hard for me,

I don't have access to a ton of space,

it's really hard for me to lift it and install it
and transport it,

and so I kind of came to this solution,

which was that I could make a text piece

where each letter was cut out of
eight and a half by 11 chipboard

and then as those letters amassed together
into a phrase

they could take up this much larger space

and have become this very portable mural.

The first one I did says,

"Reinventing the strangeness of my movement

as an art form
that only I am the perfect practitioner of."

When it was installed
it was across this huge wall,

it was a double arc of letters
spanning across two doorways.

I haven't been able to learn about myself 
and my identity as a disabled person

from mainstream culture,

but I've learned so much from other disabled people,

from their writing, from their art,

and so I think there's this
amazing thing that can happen

in disability communities

where we are mirroring back to each other,

different facets of ourselves and our experiences

and so that's something that
I've been thinking a lot about in my work is,

"How can I create things that respond to my experience

and give other disabled people

an opportunity for kind of
reflection or catharsis or resonance?"

If you're interested in learning more about my work
I have a website,

ShannonFinnegan.com,

s-h-a-n-n-o-n-f-i-n-n-e-g-a-n.com

My Instagram and Twitter handles

are the first four letters of my first name,
Shan, s-h-a-n,

and then my last name, Finnegan.

[AUDIO DESCRIPTION]: Produced by Rooted in Rights.

[End of transcript]