an accessible artist collective led by Disabled, Chronically Ill, neurodivergent and MAD people based out of Philadelphia.
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UNDUE BURDEN is a digital community archive and exhibition series created and led by Disabled, Neurodivergent, Chronically Ill, Mad, and Sick people, based in Philadelphia.
We collaborate with Disabled Philadelphians to document their histories, experiences, and collections. We work with our donors as co-archivists to scan, record, or photograph any information that is important to their stories. Together, we organize, describe, and publish the digital copy of their materials on our digital archive.
Our organization, programming, and content focus on the accessibility needs of our collaborators and community. We value resource sharing, remote work, rest, and breaks. We allow our archive to be imperfect and in-process, a reflection of our own access needs and our commitment to the evolving needs of our community.
In 2023 we are expanding our archive through our Artist in Residency, Body as an Archive, and Oral/Video Histories projects. Documentation from these projects will be woven back into the community archive, creating a ripple: WE ARE HERE.
Our public archive is accessible on our collections page.
Flier for BODY AS AN ARCHIVE. Text on top of a black and white image of feet walking on a pile of wet clay. In the upper left of the frame is lime green text reading “BODY AS AN ARCHIVE” and the right is black text reading “ a research group of FIVE Philadelphia-based Disabled artists exploring how our bodies record, hold, and express personal and collective histories.” In the lower right hand side are strips of lime green with black text on it reading “$75 honorarium. 1.5-hour meetings: Aug 12th, Aug 19th, Aug 26th” and “Nominate Philadelphia-based Disabled artists (including yourself) at: https://bit.ly/BAAAnominationform NOMINATION CLOSES JULY 31st”
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7/23
Research Group
Nominate artists to be a part of
BODY AS AN ARCHIVE research group:
FIVE Philadelphia-based Disabled artists exploring how our bodies record, hold, and express personal and collective histories.
Two images side by side.
The left image is a young Pam in a bright red dress painting at a desk. She is smiling and has long brown hair pulled back into a half-up hairstyle. She holds a paint brush in her left hand making a diagonal line cutting across the image with the brush handle. Her right hand is used to steady her motions. There is a picture of a cartoon boy in a red dress in the background.
The right image is a painting of the photograph from Pam's archive titled "Pam at Melmark." The painting is 16 inches by 20 inches and is created on watercolor paper using acrylic paint, quill pen, and paint markers. The painting shows Pam's face and arms in the foreground. Pam is smiling and holding a paintbrush. She is wearing a red and yellow shirt. She has peach skin and brown/gold hair. Over Pam's left shoulder is a depiction of a smiling figure with a red shirt and red hat, holding a bunch of grapes. The figure has black stars on their shirt and behind them is a yellow background with blue stars. Over Pam's right shoulder is a depiction of collaged yellow, orange, brown, and blue shapes on an off-white background.
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6/23
Press
Project Highlight : Velocity Fund
UNDUE BURDEN interview with Artblog
UNDUE BURDEN sits down with Artblog's Roberta Fallon for a conversation on how we reclaim our collective and personal histories through accessible archiving practices.
9/22
Funding
Hook&Loop awarded grant from The Velocity Fund for UNDUE BURDEN.
Hook&Loop and UNDUE BURDEN is a grateful recipient of a 2022 Velocity Fund grant ! Here is a handful of our team celebrating alongside the rest of the 2022-2023 Velocity Fund grantee cohort at Dahlak Paradise this past September.Stay tuned for more ways you can contribute to and collaborate with the community archive!
UNDUE BURDEN gratefully acknowledges our funders and partners:
The Velocity Fund administered by Philadelphia Contemporary with generous funding from The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts
The Leeway Foundation
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