The Oregon Clairon Volume 2 # 2 Spring, 1994 Spring

Eyerly was always interested in the avant-garde and made a point to supply his time, as well as his resources, to groups that were on the cutting edge of the arts. One such group included artists with disabilities who aimed to challenge contemporary viewpoints about what it means to live with a disability and how artists with disabilities are able to express themselves. Chiaki Kawajiri, along with collaborators Emery Blackwell and Bonnie Dunn, created a series of photographs entitled “Flesh of my Flesh,” which focused on the nude forms of two people with disabilities in an intimate setting. The papers in this collection surrounding this work focus upon the artists’ perspectives, the discourse between artists and the public, the gallery showings of the images, and the collaborative relationship between Eyerly and the artists. It touches upon issues of identity, accusations of exploitation of Blackwell and Dunn by Kawajiri, and the further proliferation of the artists with disabilities movement.