Rachel Ungerer
Rachel Ungerer is a local Bay Area artist whose work explores connection and intimacy through the lens of a disabled, queer, polyamorous woman. After developing a chronic pain condition that limits the use of both hands, Ungerer re-trained herself to paint by working with her disabled body. She exaggerates human form and uses gestural brush strokes to capture fleeting moments half remembered.
This work explores how vulnerability can be an asset in relationships, rather than a weakness as society suggests. The vulnerability in disabled people and our varying levels of dependency are infantilized in our ableist society. With the right partners, all of your disabled self is sexy and the needs that society would shame you for become a naughty game of service.
One of the biggest challenges of having an invisible disability is being gaslit and thus not receiving reasonable care. Regularly we will be bullied off of the bus seat or denied accommodations for employment. Additionally doctors deny us temporary medical leave from work. They rarely believe our lived experience even when the pain hurts too much to feed ourselves.
When your spirit is breaking and the grief of your situation overwhelms you, your people hold you and love you in your entirety. For disabled and queer communities, these are our chosen and found families. This work shares pride for queer disabled folk and love for our community through our joy, openness, suffering, and societal oppressions.
