Finnegan Shannon’s (1989, Berkeley, California) research explores the perception of disability in our societies, notably through the accessibility conditions in public spaces. Their practice is informed by their personal experience of living with cerebral palsy since birth. Their work, which intertwines text and objects, takes the form of panels or posters on which handwritten messages declare the daily difficulties encountered by people with disabilities.

To highlight the frequent absence of places to sit or rest in public spaces, such as museums, Finnegan Shannon conceived a series of robust and welcoming benches entitled Do you want us here or not. Rather than simply being placed within the galleries, they accompany the public throughout their visit. The benches are distinguished from their basic utilitarian objecthood by their cobalt blue color and short phrases which, in an underlying way, seem to ask, ‘Do you want us here or not?’. Deliberately imbued with double meaning, these messages, which question and challenge visitors, simultaneously function as triggers for awareness and as invitations to question our biases. Rather than contenting themselves with merely complying with legal requirements regarding accessibility, Finnegan Shannon seeks, through their work, to respond to the question: ‘How can I imagine accessibility as a creative and continuous process, while taking into consideration both the individual and the relational rather than simply the question of logistics?’ Beyond the question of disability, the scope of Finnegan Shannon’s work reminds us that physical experience precedes sensory experience, and that feeling welcome in a museum is the necessary prerequisite for any initiative that aims to be inclusive.