September 13, 2017 - 23:02
After watching the talk "Valuable Bodies" by Riva Lehrer and browsing through her artworks, I can feel that her portraits, especially her self-portraits, conceals a strong voice inside every of them, saying that disability does not means the person need any sympathy from anyone, for they are like any other people, just a little different. Most artworks are basically a part of the artist's life and soul, thus what is shown on each of them signifies the value of those who create them. In this case, Lehrer emphasizes on breaking the traditions of portraiture, by working on subjects that do not usually appear on most artwork. Rather than depicting them as amusing, she illustrates them in a more daring way: showing off the courage to advocate for one's self of the subject, to let the portrait says that they, too, are just like any other people.