Defying definitions

Sitting with artist Sean Burn before his performance ‘Cracking Up’ at the New Art Gallery Walsall, we reflect on the past 18 months. In 2008 we had the idea of bringing disability arts into mainstream galleries. That idea became ‘Outside IN’, a partnership between DASH, the New Art Gallery Walsall, Wolverhampton Art Gallery and Oriel Davies Gallery, and is now the pilot phase of a wider programme, ‘IN’. Back then, Sean would not have envisaged that he would be exhibiting alongside Tracey Emin, Helen Chadwick and Chris Ofili, in ‘The Life of the Mind’ curated by Bob and Roberta Smith and have a relationship with a prestigious regional gallery. He very nearly didn’t submit a proposal for the residency in Walsall, even through he had just been shortlisted for the Dadafest 2009 Disability Arts award. “Initially I didn’t feel ‘senior’ enough to put in a proposal,” says Sean, “but I’m pleased that I did. I realised I had been thinking wrongly about it, and it was ideas that were most important.”

Sean’s work, reclaiming “the language of lunacy”, is based on his own history as a (frequently enforced) mental health service-user; he questions the narratives used within the profession of psychiatry. He refers to this as storytelling rather than science. Recalling the launch event, co-hosted with Bobby Baker, Sean said: “Bobby was hilarious to work with, a lot of fun, very supportive. I’m really proud of that moment. Then I really embedded myself within the gallery to create this final exhibition, performance and publication. It’s been a bit like writing a play when you do subsequent drafts; the residency has had that re-drafting process to it.”

When talking about the relationship he’s had with the gallery, it seems Sean’s worries about hierarchy have been unfounded; he speaks warmly about how friendly and approachable everyone has been. Sean has made a marked impact on local communities, inspiring more people to follow their creative impulses. Exhibitions curator Helen Jones explains: “Resident artists provide audiences with the opportunity to be part of an artist’s thinking process and in Sean’s case, he has invited them deep into the life of his mind. In exchange, these visitors have opened their eyes to the creativity that exists within all of us.”