A Seat at the Table

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Highly Commended Entrants Across all Categories
By:
Ferris Knight
2020
Paint on chair

95

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The Artist

Ferris Knight is a writer, producer, and advocate from Naarm (Melbourne).

In 2019 she produced her first Melbourne Fringe Festival show LEtGO of Stigma, walking 80 metres across Lego to talk about living with hidden pain and the resilience of those with mental illnesses. In 2020 she was part of the anthology Closet Cases: Queers On What We Wear from Et Alia Pres, writing about sexual harassment and gender expectations.

She is a sardonic, caffeine powered cat mum who owns too many books for her own good (but that won’t stop her).

Artist Statement

While we aren’t seen and heard, more and more people feel alone in what they’re going through. We’re invisible as long as we believe we are alone and when we don’t have accessible avenues of creating communities. But being represented isn't enough, but that a voice and respect was necessary for change. Seeing other disabled people take up space both inspired me as well as helped me find a community. I learnt about the social model of disability and it changed my whole perspective. Going forward means visibility and voice, not just tokenism, in all different areas. More than four million Australians have disabilities. We need to be able to access houses, be represented and protected by laws and organisations, and wear whatever we like. Access isn’t a seat – it’s a seat and voice at the table. I want to see more people like me, people like you, claiming their space.