"Damaged'' Ancient Greek Statues

Most of ancient Greek statues have been considered as representations of the ideal aesthetic beauty but many of them are eternally "damaged", like Nike of Samothrace



or Kritios Boy from Acropolis



and Kouros of Paros


and Demeter of Cnidus


and karyatides


and Hermes of Praxiteles


and many more...

Venus de Milo

"It is often the presence of disability that allows the beauty of an art work to endure over time. Would the Venus de Milo still be considered one of the great examples of both aesthetic and human beauty if she still had both her arms?"
from T. Siebers's article again on "Disability Aesthetics",






























and he continues:
"Perhaps it is an exaggeration to consider the Venus disabled, but René Magritte did not think so. He painted his version of the Venus, "Les Menottes de cuivre", in flesh tones and colorful drapery but splashed blood-red pigment on her famous arm-stumps, giving the impression of a recent and painful amputation"



we come across the many damaged ancient Greek sculptures

'In My Language' by 'silentmiaow'

Disability Aesthetics should not consider solely works that acclaim to be work of art but also works that were never intended to operate or performed as such.

"The first part is in my "native language," and then the second part provides a translation, or at least an explanation. This is not a look-at-the-autie gawking freakshow as much as it is a statement about what gets considered thought, intelligence, personhood, language, and communication, and what does not."
by Amanda Baggs (or "silentmiaow")



Amanda Baggs's performance is an extraordinary dance/theatre sequence. Repeated forms of movements combined with voice/murmur/song/scratching/beating sounds create a video dance performance of exceptional beauty.
One of my beloved.

more 'silentmiaow' videos

Introducing Disability Aesthetics

A quotation of Tobin Siebers's "Disability Aesthetics" seminal article, is the best introductory definition of Disability Aesthetics.

"What I am calling disability aesthetics names a critical concept that seeks to emphasize the presence of disability in the tradition of aesthetic representation. Disability aesthetics refuses to recognize the representation of the healthy body— and its definition of harmony, integrity, and beauty—as the sole determination of the aesthetic. It is not a matter of representing the exclusion of disability from aesthetic history, since such an exclusion has not taken place, but of making the influence of disability obvious. This goal may take two forms: 1) to establish disability as a critical framework that questions the presuppositions underlying definitions of aesthetic production and appreciation; 2) to establish disability as a significant value in itself worthy of future development."

Download article .pdf