GLENN Cairns hopes the inspiring self-portraits of people with disabilities will help create awareness and understanding of the personal struggles they face.
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Mr Cairns, a paraplegic, spent five days learning about photography and brushing up on his Photoshop skills in the Imagine Me workshop at Orange Ex-Services Club last week, led by photographer Sue Murray.
Ms Murray’s five pupils, Mr Cairns, Prue McCarthy, Bettina Lutkie, Chris Rubie and Rocky Mileto were given free rein in the creative process, choosing how they wanted to be photographed and how their images were altered, to capture their personal journey or thoughts.
Mr Cairns, who depicted himself as half-eagle half-man because of his dream of flying, hoped the portraits would foster understanding in able-bodied people about the internal struggles disabled people faced.
“The awareness side of it is really good. In my experience, most people with disabilities are afraid and keep quiet and that’s the fear I went through when I was discriminated against, but when you’re empowered you feel like you can speak up,” he said.
When she first started hosting creative self-portrait workshops for people with spinal cord injuries a few years ago, Ms Murray thought many participants would be depressed or upset about their conditions.
But she was surprised to find most had an inspiring and uplifting outlook on life and it was those stories she wanted to help them capture through the creative photography.
“Every single image is completely different. I think they have a huge impact on people who are able-bodied, and that’s part of the project, to raise awareness about what it’s like living with a disability. I think it’s inspirational,” Ms Murray said.
“It’s also for people who are working as nurses in rehab or carers to understand more about the people who they are caring for, because disabilities can often just be thought about as medical problems.”
Ms Murray has already taken her workshop to Bathurst and Goulburn and will travel to Tamworth, Armidale, Dubbo, Griffith and Moruya before hosting an exhibition at Casula Powerhouse in Sydney on International Day of People with Disability, December 3.
About 30 images created in the eight workshops will be selected for display in the exhibition.
