Outlandish

John Hansard Gallery is proud to present Outlandish, an exhibition which reveals hidden histories and untold stories. Pioneering artist Aaron Williamson brings together a wealth of previously unseen archival material which tells a truly remarkable story.

In 2022, Aaron Williamson received a bequest of a unique archive from Dean Dwayne Joiner III, an American art historian and collector. Joiner had chosen Williamson as the recipient of this bequest primarily due to Williamson’s longstanding commitment to disability art activism. This extraordinary archive contains and documents the work of The Outlandish Collective, a group who made work together between 1976-1982 from their base in the New Forest, Hampshire. The Outlandish Collective was a group of like-minded disabled artists (primarily with learning difference) who rejected formalised terms for disability and instead favoured the more confrontational term ‘crips’. By using this term, (a shortening of cripple), they deliberately reappropriated what had until then been considered a highly derogatory term.

Although formally untrained, The Outlandish Collective attracted the attention of prominent art world figures of the time. Through their encounters with these influential figures, the Collective were introduced to key art movements, such as Land Art and Performance Art, as well as to the work of many other leading artists of the 60s and 70s. This inspired and informed their practice as a collective. In 1976 they produced The Outlandish Manifesto and went on to produce numerous artworks, earthworks and performances. This exhibition aims to bring together various elements from the archive and display them in their entirety for the first time. Included, are original photographs, sketches, drawings, and ephemera.

The revelatory nature of The Outlandish Collective’s archive has also inspired a revisiting of some of Aaron Williamson’s own practice. For many years, Williamson has been a significant voice within contemporary performative art practice. Documentation of some of his key projects are shown in adjacent gallery spaces. His work is informed by his experience of becoming deaf and by a politicised, yet humorous sensibility towards disability.

Williamson also worked with the artist Katherine Araniello. Together they created work under the moniker of The Disabled Avant-Garde (DAG). DAG (2006–2019) was a satirical organisation whose aim was to create work that caused confusion or sparked debate through humorously distorting or subverting traditional stereotypes of disability. To accompany Outlandish, John Hansard Gallery is showing an extensive survey of DAG film and performance works, as well as documentation and ephemera from the DAG archive.

Outlandish is a John Hansard Gallery exhibition curated by John Hansard Gallery’s Ros Carter, and Winchester School of Art’s Prof Larry Lynch. Developed in association with Newlyn Art Gallery & The Exchange and The Minstead Trust. Supported by Arts Council England and University of Southampton.