Ani Schreiber
About the Artist
Ani Schreiber is a disabled artist living in the Willamette Valley in her home state of Oregon. Her pieces “Look,” “Luchador,” and “Dress of Flowers” have been featured on the covers of poetry collections by Jose Angel Araguz. Most of her work can be viewed and purchased via her Instagram account @anischreiberart. While all of her art necessarily incorporates her physical disability, sometimes it just depicts birds.
artist statement
My work deals directly with how I interact with disability in everyday life as well as how I interact with disability as an artist. I believe my work offers a window into the intricate ways that my neurological disorders affect and shape who I am, both through worldview and their physical manifestations.
I work both in digital and physical two-dimensional art. My work with digital art is an attempt at documenting my chronic migraines (which, ironically, disallow me from actual work with screens). Much of my digital work is done surrounding the themes of migraines, sight loss, auras, and the feeling of being isolated. My physical art, similarly, depicts the more physical aspects of my conditions which keep me from creating physical art. Severe inflammation of the joints and spine keep me from being able to work in a chair at my desk for longer than a few minutes at a time. Much of this work is self-portraits, as I navigate what it looks like for this body to exist on this physical plane. I love to work in watercolors and inks because my vulnerability in motor control shows plainly in these mediums. I find that working in a medium that does not want to work well for me is a rebellion in a world that wants us to keep our “flaws” hidden and covered up.
In this particular piece, “She Holds Me Up,” I have used line and watercolor wash to depict myself resting on my cane, Brigitte. My body that cannot hold itself up is always being supported by something else, in this case a cane. Thinking of my cane as an animate being complete with personality helps humanize a dehumanizing experience. In this way, this piece acknowledges the intimate relationship between two creatures - cane and artist - who rely on each other to function wholly in the world.