Crip Paint Power

  1. The three Crip Paint Power paintings above a white bookcase with a small green plant.
    Image description: A light blue wall with four large canvas paintings hung over white bookcases. The paintings are a part of the Crip Paint Power installation by Genevieve Ramos featuring women from the Chicago disabled community. The paintings have a bright pink background with the pattern of the Chicago flag. The first painting features Candace Coleman, Reveca Toress, Sandie Yi, and Michelle Garcia.
  3. The artist, Genevieve Ramos, stands in front of her Crip Paint Power paintings. She is wearing a peach colored mask and dress with flowers. She holds a cane in her hands.
    Image description: The artist, Genevieve Ramos, stands in front of her Crip Paint Power paintings. She is wearing a peach colored mask and dress with flowers. She holds a cane in her hands.
  4. Guests read the accompanying Crip Paint Power booklet.
    Image description: Guests, including a person wearing a black backpack, black cap, and white face mask and a person wearing a black shirt and with long black hair read the accompanying hot pink Crip Paint Power booklet.
  6. The artist Genevieve Ramos with Dr. Margaret Fink, the director of the DCC, standing in front of the four Crip Paint Power portraits. Margaret is wearing a white top with brown pants and a mauve colored mask.
    Image description: The artist Genevieve Ramos with Dr. Margaret Fink, the director of the DCC, standing in front of the four Crip Paint Power portraits. Margaret is wearing a white top with brown pants and a mauve colored mask.

The UIC Disability Cultural Center is so honored to be the home for Genevieve Ramos: Crip Paint Power. Ramos began work on this portrait series during her 3Arts / Bodies of Work Residency Fellowship at UIC in 2022, and the exhibition was first showcased at Curb Appeal gallery in June to July 2023. (Learn more about Curb Appeal, an apartment gallery located in the Heart of Chicago neighborhood, run by Todd Garon and UIC alum Sandy Guttman.)

This exhibition presents work created as part of Ramos’s Feminist Crip Paint Power, a multi-year project exploring the love, care, and interdependency in disability communities through the lens of disability justice and feminism. Stemming from relationships with disabled BIPOC femmes and through a series of curated interviews and photo shoots in partnership with the photographer Colectivo Multipolar, Crip Paint Power features four portraits of leaders in Chicago’s rich disability network, including community organizers Candace Coleman and Michelle Garcia, artist and educator Sandie (Chun-shan) Yi, and the artist activist Reveca Torres. The exhibition includes a documentary film and Disability Justice is Another Word for Love zine created in collaboration with the Disability Culture Activism Lab at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Access a text-only version of the Disability Justice is Another Word for Love zine here.

Genevieve Ramos (b. 1990, she/her/ella) is an American visual artist and disability advocate. Specializing in acrylic painting, Ramos employs vibrant colors to achieve a pop art aesthetic while exploring the themes of feminism, disability, empowerment, and political awareness. Ramos wields her art as a tool of activism and resistance, challenging audiences to explore their preconceived notions about what and who women with disabilities should be. As an artist, she is inspired by the beauty, positivity, and love of the world, which manifest in works like her portrait series Feminist Crip Paint Power (2022-2023). She is a member of the Pinturas Mexicana’s collective and was a 2021 Artist in Residence with the Disability Culture Activism Lab at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and a 2022 fellow with 3Arts/Bodies of Work. Ramos holds degrees in Art and Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies from Northeastern Illinois University and holds a certificate in Painting from the School of the Art Institute.

Watch the documentary about Genevieve Ramos's Feminist Crip Paint Power project!