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The Say Their Names activity created a space during the Educator Lab to pay homage to individuals from the disability community that have passed on and highlight the role that their work has played in social justice movements and our collective history. This activity provided a moment of reflection for educators to also pay respect to significant people in their lives. Each name was said aloud with a brief moment to honor that individual.
Stephanie Alvarado is a queer gender nonbinary disabled femme antidisciplinary artist, poet, archivist, photographer, facilitator and cultural organizer for 20 years. Stephanie was born and raised in the Bronx, NY by way of Guayaquil, Ecuador. They alchemize photography, feminist performance, community based photo archiving, and political education into community building and social justice practices in public spaces for people of color. Their work is rooted in spiritual community healing, social justice, and local memory. They host intergenerational photo archiving teach-ins on public park land and community gardens to reclaim public space as cultural reparations for Black, Brown, and Indigenous communities.
Stephanie has held artist residencies and fellowships at Wave Hill Public Garden and Cultural Center, The Caribbean Cultural Center African Diaspora Institute, Witness for Peace, and The Laundromat Project. They’ve had poetry readings at Snug Harbor Cultural Center and Botanical Garden, Pregones Puerto Rican Traveling Theater, and Kelly Street Garden. They have facilitated retreats for the NYC Network of Worker Cooperatives and been an adjunct professor at Hunter College School of Social Work. They currently serve on the Board of Directors for The Literary Freedom Project. Their work was recently published in Korea Art Forum’s Shared Space, Shared Dialogues artist catalog. Stephanie received their BA from NYU in Psychology, Latino Studies and Public Policy, and her MA in Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies from Emory University.
The Community Resource Panel was developed to share a wide range of tools, programs and perspectives that can aide educators and students with disabilities. The panel featured: (Carrie Banks / Supervising Librarian, Brooklyn Public Library Inclusive Services, Amanda McFee / Director of Arts Programs for the Office of Arts Education District 75 Citywide Programs, NYC Department of Education, Stephanie Garcia / District 75 Alumni, Rick G / Founder/CEO of Positive Exposure). Photoville is very grateful for the time and expertise shared by each of the panelists.
Carrie Banks runs Brooklyn Public Library’s Inclusive Services. She taught Including Youth with Disabilities at Pratt Institute. Active in ALA since 2000, she was ASGCLA’s President in 2020, and part of ALA President Loida Garcia-Febo’s EDI Presidential Team. Publications include revising Including Families of Children with Special Needs: A How to Do It Manual for Librarians, Libraries and Garden: Growing Together, with Cynthia Mediavilla, and Library Programming for Adults with Developmental Disabilities, with Barbara Klipper.
Amanda McFee is the Director of Arts Programs for District 75 Citywide Programs, NYC DOE. She is responsible for designing student arts-related programs, creating partnerships within the NYC Arts Community, developing family engagement programs and providing professional development for the Arts disciplines & Arts integration. She specializes in accessible instruction for students. She believes that the Arts give an opportunity for students to expand communication, self-expression and socialization, as well as develop motor skills, increase problem solving abilities and build independence. Amanda has been a keynote speaker at the NYC Arts for All Abilities Consortium Conference, and guest presenter at the International Society for Technology in Education, National Art Education Association, the LEGO National Championships, and other conferences worldwide. She has also co- authored CRSE and SEL programs with NYC Cultural Partners.
Stephanie Garcia is a student at the Borough of Manhattan Community College pursuing a degree in Design and Illustration. She won an award at the Disability Pride parade visual art contest, when she was In high school in 2019. Her school received a cash award for her participation in a District 75 contest where she won first and second place. Her personal interests include enjoying museum visits such as the Museum of Modern Art and El Museo del Barrio. “The purpose of art is washing the dust of daily life off our souls.” – Pablo Picasso
Rick Guidotti is an award winning photographer who has worked in NYC, Milan, Paris and London for a variety of high profile clients including Yves St Laurent, Revlon, and L’Oreal. His work has been published in newspapers, magazines and journals as diverse as GQ, People, the American Journal of Medical Genetics, The Lancet, Spirituality and Health, The Washington Post, Atlantic Monthly and LIFE Magazine.
Rick founded POSITIVE EXPOSURE after a chance encounter in 1997 with a young lady living with albinism at a bus stop in New York City. Rick has since spent more than twenty years collaborating internationally with advocacy organizations/NGOs, medical schools, universities and other educational institutions to effect a sea-change in societal attitudes towards individuals living with genetic, physical, behavioral or intellectual differences.
Jen White-Johnson led the Photoville community in a photo zine-making workshop using digital and non-digital tools. Participants explored how zine making can be used as a form of political protest in and outside the classroom and disability justice community space.
Jen White-Johnson is an Afro-Latina disabled art activist, designer, and educator whose visual work explores the intersection of content and caregiving with an emphasis on redesigning ableist visualculture. As an artist- educator with Graves disease and ADHD, her heart-centered and electric approach to disability advocacy bolsters these movements with invaluable currencies: powerful,dynamic art and media that all at once educates, bridges divergent worlds, and builds a future that mirrors her Autistic son’s experience.
Jen has presented her activist work and collaborated with a number of brands and art spaces across print and digital such as Twitter, Target, Converse, and Apple. Her photography and design have been featured in The Washington Post, The New York Times, AfroPunk, CNN, Latina.com, Teen VOGUE and is permanently archived in libraries at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Princeton University, and National Museum of Women in the Arts in DC. In 2021 she was listed as 20 Latino Artists to watch onTODAY.com Jen currently teaches as Adjunct Faculty at the Maryland Institute College of Art,where she is also an alumnus, having received her MFA in Graphic Design in 2010. She currently lives in Baltimore with her husband and 9-year- old son.
With additional support from:
Koren Martin (Public Engagement Manager), Cailley Frank-Lehrer (Senior Producer), Sam Barzilay (Co-Founder & Creative Director), Dave Shelley (Co-Founder and Creative Producer), Laura Roumanos (Co-Founder and Executive Director), Sade Boyewa El, Niamh McDonnell, Colleen Costello (Development Coordinator), Carly Harrison (Programming Associate), Hannah Simon (Production Assistant), Julie Thompson (Photographer), Johnny Chang (Videographer), Jen White-Johnson (Artist), All Hands In Motion (ASL Interpretation)
November 17, 2022
Stephanie Alvarado, Jen White-Johnson
Carrie Banks, Amanda McFee, Stephanie Garcia, Rick Guidotti
PhotoWings