Reviewed by Ian Mowll.
GreenSpirit member Lesley Illingworth gave a speech in the House of Commons building to support her art exhibition: Artists and Disability – Oppression: Up Close and Intensive.
Wind back in time and Lesley wrote a speculative letter to the MP Kwasi Kwarteng as part of her campaign to make MPs and the wider public aware of disability rights. To her surprise, Kwasi gave Lesley a 30-minute meeting to put forward her ideas and from this came an art exhibition of Lesley’s work in the House of Commons building. Not only that, but the artwork with supporting text was in the Upper Waiting Room, just by a long corridor of MP’s committee rooms.
On the 7th of May 2024, a group Lesley’s friends, family and supporters went to the opening ceremony for the art exhibition in the House of Commons building. Whilst Kwazi planned to be there, unfortunately he had to cancel due to the train strike. But that did not dampen the event as we listened to a heartfelt speech by Lesley about her life journey and desire to promote disability rights. Through supporting homeless people and as a nurse, Lesley dedicated much of her life to help the vulnerable and those in need.
Lesley giving her speech
Lesley is also a skilled fabric artist and produces wonderful, colourful artwork, full of passion and life. The large size of some of her bold artwork gave me a feeling of full-on impact showing that the issues that Lesley talks about are not to be sidelined or hidden away.
Examples of Lesley’s artwork used in the exhibition
You can read the supporting text of the exhibition here:
https://viewer.desygner.com/OINxqb1SpsO/
As the supporting text says, the social system we live in is capitalist and therefore approaches disability from the wrong direction. Instead of community, creativity and connection, we have targets, profits, and outputs. This leaches the life-blood out of our society and makes it a pale reflection of what it could be: happy, vibrant and compassionate. We need a radical re-think of the direction of our society and Lesley’s work helps to shine a light on this issue.
In GreenSpirit, we celebrate creativity and support activities that help to produce a more compassionate and beautiful community of life on Earth. Lesley’s work does just this and I felt honoured to witness her work. Thank you, Lesley, for all you have done for disability rights and pointing us in the right direction.
You can read more about Lesley’s preparation for this exhibition here.
Lesley at the House of Commons – Jubilee Room.