DCC Community Lounge

Kelp Help, a collaboration between Sins Invalid and Sandie Yi, 2021, felt

Kelp Help was mailed out to 200 participants in 2021 with this statement:

“This is a six foot-long kelp, here to help, produced by crip hands during the pandemic. You can use it to measure social distance. You can wrap it around your body. You can dance with it and sing to it. You can turn it into a bracelet, a necklace, a crown, or a sling, or cut the kelp into shapes that make you feel home.”

Kelp is proof that homes can die like people do. What once sheltered fish, fed aquatic mammals and humans, was cherished for its unbroken connection to ancestors of every variety, has vanished from seas all over the world.

The practice of kelp farming, kept alive through indigenous practices of cultivation and millennia of respectful relations, is now exploited for profit by white growers.

But this healing plant will not be lost. You are witnessing a reminder of kelp’s power, and the power of all things that grow. You are witnessing kelp wisdom, superkelp, kelp as it once was and as it will be once more.

By taking part in the kelp experience, we resist the trolling hand of capitalism, affirming our participation in the future, rooting down deep, and providing for communities as large and complex as the ocean.

Take pictures of yourself with our kelp, and post to social media with the hashtags

#SinsInvalid, #KelpHelp, #CripCouture, and #2GreatFingers  !

Image Description: A six foot long piece of sage green kelp. The kelp is made of felt and hangs across two hooks on a light blue wall. The kelp is meant to resemble the fingers of its creator.

Disability Pride Parade Poster, large poster with paint and glitter glue

Image Description: A neon green poster with the words “Crips say close the Camps!” in dark blue upper case letters with silver glitter outlining the words crips, close, and camps.

Disability Pride Parade Poster, large poster with paint

Image Description: A red poster with the words “Crip love is the Best” written in cursive with black paint with a heart over the letter I in Crip. There is a heart with the LGBTQ pride colors in the bottom right corner.

Disability Pride Parade Poster, large poster board and cut out letters

Image Description: A neon pink poster with the words “ Liberation for All” in upper case black block letters and “#Close The Camps” under it with a white background and black letters.

Disability Pride Parade Poster, large poster with paint and glitter glue

Image Description: A white poster with the words “Queer Disabled and Proud” with queer and proud in dark purple paint, disabled in dark blue paint, and the word and in green paint. There is a transgender pride symbol drawn in silver glitter in the bottom right corner.

Nothing about us without us

Image Description: A black rectangular frame with a thick white border around the artwork in the center. The artwork has a white background with a swirl of pink, dark gray, and blue of differing patterns. The pink pattern is petals and the dark gray and blue are wavy lines. On top of this is the text which reads “Nothing About us Without us”

The Future is Mutual Aid, Molly Costello, 2020, Giclee archival print

Image description: A tan rectangular frame with a thick white border around the artwork in the center. The artwork has a dark navy blue background with white text that reads “ The Future is Mutual Aid” and various figures climbing on and around the text with white shooting stars.

Birthing, Dying, Becoming Crip Wisdom Commemorative poster, Micah Bazant for Sins Invalid, 2016,

This poster was designed by Micah Bazant for Sins Invalid’s 2016 performance, marking the groups decade of disability justice based art and culture. Sins Invalid was formed in 2005 by a group of disabled people of color and queer disabled artists including, Patty Berne, Mia Mingus, Stacey Milbern, Leroy F. Moore Jr, Eli Clare, and Sebastian Margaret.

Image description: A tan rectangular frame with a thick white border around the artwork in the center. The artwork has an ombre background that fades from deep blue to light blue. In the top right and left corners, there are the faces of two individuals wearing crowns facing each other. In the center of the piece there is white text that reads “ Birthing, Dying, Becoming Crip Wisdom” with a group of people cheering under it at the bottom.

Autistic Joy Manifesto, Jen White Johnson, 2018, print

Image description: A black rectangular frame with a clear border around the print which has a ruby-red  background with purple and black wide paint brush strokes and an orange-purple ombre border. It has a gold-yellow circle in the middle with text in Spanish that reads “Autista, Valiente, dando luz, dando alegria, dando amor” which translates to “Autistic, brave, giving light, giving joy, giving love”.

Create More Anti Ableist Spaces, Jen White Johnson, 2021, Print

Image description: A black rectangular frame with a clear border around the print. The print has a white background overlaid by a light orange rectangle zoomed in on large purple letters. It has a white circle in the center with black and purple text that reads “ Create More Anti-Ableist Spaces” and white lines that radiate from it over the light orange background.

Black Disabled Lives Matter, Jen White Johnson, 2020, print

Image description:

A yellow framed poster with various black and white quotes and illustrations. Clockwise starting at the top the text reads “Amplify Black Disabled Lives”, “Tu Lucha es Mi Lucha”, “Let Autistic Kids Play”. Next there is a black and white drawing of James Baldwin with text saying “Ignorance allied with power is the most ferocious enemy justice can have”. The text continues clockwise reading “Black Autistic Lives Matter”, and “Autistic Joy.” Two small black power fists have an infinity sign on them. A third large black power fist takes up most of the page and says “Black Disabled Lives Matter”. Now continuing counterclockwise, text reads “Create More Anti Ableist Spaces”, “Advocate Black Autistic Voices Experiences Opinions Lives” and ends with a black and white drawing of Audre Lorde. Text on the drawing reads “Caring for myself is not self-indulgence. It is self preservation and an act of political warfare”.