Media Release I 12 May 2014 I For Immediate Release

Photography Exhibition Revealing Working Lives of Disabled People!

12 June – 26 July 2014. Pop-up exhibition space: 8 Water Street, Liverpool. The Exhibition ‘Working Lives: Here and There’ will include new work commissioned by DaDaFest from photographers Adam Lee, Ciara Leeming, Colin McPherson and Tom Wood.

Image above: Sarah Bush, by Colin McPherson. Commissioned by DaDaFest 2014. Available in high-res on request.

It will feature large scale photographs taken in Liverpool (‘here’) and from countries across the world (‘there’). The images depict disabled people in their workplaces, challenging myths surrounding disability and employment, through positive depictions of disabled people in work. Accompanying the exhibition are stories from the people depicted.

Unemployment rates for Disabled people in the UK are on average 53%1 of those of working age despite research showing the benefits of disabled people as employees and the nature of entrepreneurship conducive to the life patterns of many disabled

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1 Department for Work and Pensions, 2013

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people. In other parts of the world, unemployment figures for disabled people are over 90%2.

Ruth Gould, Artistic Director of DaDaFest said: “This exhibition makes a powerful political statement about the similarities and differences of working lives of disabled people from across the globe. I am delighted with how the photographers have captured the people featured, and the personal stories they tell, within this political context.”

The exhibition is an element of the programme of cultural events commissioned for the International Festival for Business, running in June-July. Councillor Wendy Simon said: “This exhibition from DaDaFest demonstrates the ground breaking and diverse cultural programme Liverpool has to offer. We are particularly pleased it is part of the International Festival For Business as Liverpool leads the way in ensuring all its citizens can be engaged, contributing and part of the working ecology.”

Photographer Colin McPherson said “I was delighted to be commissioned by DaDaFest to be part of the Working Lives - Here and There project. The challenge for me was to use my photography to communicate the ideas behind the project whilst bringing to the fore the character of the people I was photographing. I wanted to produce something that looked positive, direct, optimistic and powerful which could be seen in the context of the positive contribution the subjects make to their working environment. In the end I chose to make portraits in collaboration with the people I photographed, to allow them to feel that they were part of the process as well as being the subjects of the images.”

The Photographers: Adam Lee is a Liverpool based freelance documentary and commercial photographer and photographic workshop facilitator, much of his work centres on disability. Ciara Leeming is a Manchester-based freelance writer, photographer and multimedia producer focusing on social affairs, education and culture. Colin McPherson is an award-winning photographer and visual artist based near Liverpool. Tom Wood is an internationally exhibited artist best known for his street photography around Merseyside. His work has also been widely published and received awards. He was recently featured in the BBC 4 documentary series ‘What Do Artists Do All Day.’

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!2 United Nations – Factsheet on Persons with Disabilities !http://www.un.org/disabilities/default.asp/www.disability.gi/images/default.asp?id=255

The exhibition is accompanied by an online gallery of both disabled and non-disabled people at work. To visit, and contribute your own working-selfie, visit www.dadafest.co.uk

Listings Information: “Working Lives: Here and There” 12.30 – 5.30pm, 12 June – 26 July 2014 8 Water Street – access via Rumford Street There will be a series of 3 talks alongside the exhibition about employment, disability and art as a tool for social change. To find out more visit www.dadafest.co.uk Preview Event Invitation: You are invited to the preview happening 5-7pm, Wednesday 11 June. RSVP to jackm@dadafest.co.uk For more information please contact the Marketing Manager at DaDaFest. Email: rutha@dadafest.co.uk Telephone: (0151) 707 1733. Photographs are available for publication with credit. Notes to Editors This exhibition is part of the International Festival for Business 2014 Culture programme. The UK’s International Festival for Business Cultural Programme, happening June – July 2014. For more information visit www.ifb2014.com About DaDaFest DaDaFest is a disability and Deaf arts organisation based in Liverpool with a national and international reputation for innovative arts delivered to high standards of accessibility. Working to the Social Model of Disability and aiming towards an inclusive social understanding of disability, DaDaFest delivers the festival and other arts events to promote high quality arts from unique cultural perspectives. It also produces opportunities for disabled and Deaf people to access the arts, including training and a young people’s programme. Visit www.dadafest.co.uk or follow @DaDaFest on Twitter. DaDaFest International 2014 will be taking place in Liverpool from 8 November 2014 – 11 January 2015 with the theme ‘Art of the Lived Experiment’. DaDaFest is funded by: Exhibition venue partner:

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