'Wanted: A World for One Billion' by Lauren Anders Brown opens at the United Nations Secretariat Building in New York
Award-winning director and photographer Lauren Anders Brown has opened a multisensory art exhibition featuring stories of persons with disabilities at the United Nations (UN) Secretariat Building in New York.
"It may be the first of its kind to be so comprehensive with its formatting. I felt we needed to set a standard. This exhibit is how art should be-accessible to everyone. All it takes is considering the varying abilities of the audience," Lauren explains.
Creating a multisensory experience
Lauren's 'Wanted: A World for One Billion' exhibition brings together photographs, audio recordings, and immersive films from Morocco, Mozambique, and Ecuador and looks into how people inspire change in their communities. Presented in a multisensory format, the exhibit features photographs with image descriptions, videos showing written quotes by contributors, and videos with a first-person perspective of someone in a wheelchair or someone with a hearing impairment.
"It was important to me to create something that even persons with impaired senses could enjoy and experience in-depth," Lauren shares.
"The usual way we present art and entertainment does not take into consideration people suffering from rare conditions like dyslexia and hemianopia," she adds. Dyslexia is a reading disability for people whose brains process language differently, while hemianopia is the condition where a person only has half a view of their visual field.
Putting a spotlight on marginalized populations
Most of the contributors to Lauren's exhibit are women, young persons, and individuals belonging to other marginalized groups. "Contributors had full autonomy to express themselves and participate in the exhibit in whatever capacity they felt comfortable," Lauren shares.
The UN Department of Economics and Social Affairs Disability reveals that, among various groups, persons with disabilities are more prone to sexual abuse and violence yet are least likely to seek preventive care and police or legal assistance.
Lauren aims to highlight the need to provide persons with disabilities access to reproductive and gender-based violence services. "This exhibit is a way of contributing toward creating environments that uphold, protect and fulfill the rights of persons with disabilities," she explains.
Sharing the exhibit worldwide
Lauren has traveled to 85 countries as an independent artist, primarily for filming, photography, and documenting humanitarian and human rights issues. She has also previously collaborated with UNFPA, the United Nations sexual reproductive health agency highlighting problems of gender-based violence and maternal health.
"I'm currently working on the final installments of the exhibit, which are a written book and an audiobook that will have the full interviews with the contributors," Lauren shares. The upcoming works will be available in English and the contributors' native languages. "I want to create something that everyone can access," she adds.
Before the New York installation, Lauren first showcased 'Wanted: A World for One Billion' during the World Conference on persons with disabilities in Oslo, Norway. She will bring the exhibit to Spain and potentially Bermuda and London later this year.
Lauren Anders Brown
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COMTEX_423833412/2776/2023-02-04T09:51:38
