Richard is an artist with interests in accessibility, inclusion and imperfection and how art and music can intersect these points, remove barriers and make new forms of normal that include rather than exclude.
Using painting, drawing, music and interaction he works with communities and on his own to try and draw these disparate ideas together.
Currently an artist on the Conditions Studio Programme in Croydon. Richard also works for the learning disability arts organisation Heart n Soul as their creative associate and is the founder and director of not-for-profit organisation Constant Flux, and he plays in several punk bands.
During his virtual visit, Richard focused on the work he did with neurodivergent or, the term he prefers, disabled people. He says this is because he sees that these people are disabled by the limits and accessibility (or lack of) of their environments, whereas he sees the term people with disabilities as putting the responsibility on the affected individual.
As well as his visual art has released the book ‘D.I.Y As Privilege: A Manifesto’ published under Rough Trade Books. In this, he writes about his experience with supporting musicians with learning disabilities and being part of the DIY punk scene, re-evaluating his perception of the culture.
Richard works with musicians such as Daniel Wakeford, The Fish Police, Beat Express, Pertti Kurikan Nimipäivät, Electric Fire and more. He helps to organise the events from the and is involved in helping venues make themselves more accessible.
His presentation made me reflect on how little music I have heard from musicians with learning disabilities and makes me think of how I can make my work more responsible when factoring in other audiences, such as warnings before video and audio playback.
Richard left us with 5 key things to think about in creative projects:
- People
- Environment
- Communication
- Belonging
- Sharing
He says to create structures that allow freedom, involve people in decision making from the start and to not focus on the outcome. This supports people to have more agency and control and delevop creativity independently.
I will keep in mind all these things in future group projects.