Pen Pals is funded by the British Council’s International Collaboration grants and is a cross-cultural and cross art-form project bringing together disabled artists associated with 3 International disability arts festivals - DaDaFest International in the UK, Jogja Disability Arts in Indonesia and Potters Gallery in Nigeria. It offers opportunities for artists to share their work and practice with others and to find out more about how artists in different locations navigate creating work as disabled artists.
Ahead of DaDaFest International Festival 2022, disabled UK artists Deborah Ajia (London), Helen Hall (Belfast) and Shaun Fallows (Wigan) joined three artists from Nigeria and three from Indonesia in a long term correspondence project that aims to break down barriers, develop understanding and lead to developing long term connections.
As part of our hybrid festival programming, we published insights into the participants' artistic practices and how these developed over the course of Pen Pals.
Click on profiles below of the participating artists, both as individuals and in their collectives, to find out more and experience their work!
Videos are also available over on our Instagram of the in-person installation in Indonesia of participants' works at Gallery R.J. Katamsi, plus the amazing event in Yogyakarta which launched the exhibition on International Day of Disabled People 2022.
Pen Pals DDFI showcase: