Part of 'Rising in Our Power', an intervention by IN/Visible National Disabled Women’s Arts Collective

'Growing in My Power'

Art Performance by Michelle Baharier at MIMA, Middlesborough Institute of Modern Art, February 2025

Emerging during the pandemic to reduce isolation—the IN/Visible National Disabled Women’s Arts Collective—an innovative group of disabled women artists have created a thriving online studio space for creativity, collaboration, and solidarity.

From our acclaimed series of exhibitions 'All The Women We Could Have Been' to weekly creative practice sessions, the collective brings humour, insight, and resilience to our work.

The Rising in Our Power takeover at MIMA spotlighted our powerful community-building methods and artistic activism.

About IN/Visible Women at MIMA

I have been a part of the ‘In/visible Women’ A national collective of disabled women artists/activists since it's inception. We have been working together since 2020, where we met on Zoom to support each other’s practice and shared working time together during the Covid 19 pandemic.

I was thrilled to be part of our amazing takeover at MIMA alongside: Vici Wreford-Sinnott, Dolly Sen, Samantha Blackburn, Lynne Mcfarlane, Honor Flaherty, Caroline Cardus, Pauline Heath and Julie MacNamara.

Why Art Performances and Workshops?

Art has the power to challenge and inspire.

By taking art directly to the public, artists can directly confront social issues, making the invisible visible.
We can make art for art’s sake, and I do, too. Many time this is sufficient. But art can also be a catalyst for change.

What shapes you?

I presented my latest performance ‘Growing in my Power’.

My piece began with my school report from 1972 before I was diagnosed with dyslexia. Since then, the world has changed and I explored this with spoken word and the use of body and costume.

I created an intervention for the audience combining the life of a dyslexic, an outsider who shares the hidden women of Middlesbrough’s fight as suffragettes and wearers of trousers.

I also brought to life my Transformation Bridge with the reality of the Transporter Bridge that is locally known as the Dragonfly Bridge.

During the MIMA Takeover there were performances, interventions, zine and placard making, a procession, and a beautiful publication we created for people to take away.

The Process . The Story . The Dress

Photos courtesy of Chris Freeman and Kev Howard!

I would like to thank all the women in the group for their support whilst making this work and special thanks to Jackie Montague who collaborated with me on the text and Natalie Webb who designed and created the costume with me.

I would also like to convey my appreciation for Natalie Webb, who co-designed and made my amazing costume, and Jackie Montague who collaborated with me on the text of my performance piece. You can see excerpts of the work on my YouTube channel.  
 

We also held a poetry cutout workshop where everyone wrote a poem without thinking and planning in advance! What a joy it is to follow your intuition!

We had zines, created by the IN/Visible National Disabled Women's Art Collective!

See some of the examples of what people make at my cut out poetry workshops below!

The Zine and Poetry workshop

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