Ezra Benus

Ezra Benus’s multimedia practice concerns relationships and intimacies of power, care, and pain, and questions the constructions of time related to values of normativity and productivity. Benus’s practice is cradled by embedded Jewishness, queerness, and sickness as purviews and navigational tools in this world. In these three risographs, Benus documents a process of chronic illness, showing how medical care, even when necessary, can blur individuality. In these images, both the cared for and the carers are represented mostly by limbs. The titles of the pieces beckon to the interdependence of medical care.

A photograph by Ezra Benus
Ezra Benus, All Hands on Deck. Courtesy of the artist. This is a grainy image of four hands wearing red surgical gloves pressing on a blue armlike figure on a white surgical table.
A photograph by Ezra Benus
Ezra Benus, Hold (for) me. Courtesy of the artist. This is a grainy image of a pair of hands wearing red surgical gloves inserting a needle into a blue-tinted arm. The arm has a red tourniquet tied just above the elbow.
A photograph by Ezra Benus
Ezra Benus, You, Me, or does it become us. Courtesy of the artist. This is a grainy image of a hand wearing a red surgical glove and a blue surgical smock pressing down on a silver metal table. The arm sports a silver watch band. There are five vials of drawn blood on the table, along with a bar-coded identification tag.

About This Site

A Picture of Health: Jo Spence, a Politics of Disability and Illness is a multi-pronged project curated by Kenny Fries and Elisabeth Frost.

In 1986 the British artist, educator, and activist Jo Spence (1934-1992) described the question fundamental to her work: “how to represent a body in crisis.” Spence’s work reveals powerful political and artistic responses to the experience of inhabiting such a body and is as timely as ever. This website places her work in the context of the lived experience of chronic illness and of contemporary Disability Arts.

The Artists

Links to artists, with an image representing each artist that is explored in further detail on the artist's page.

Jo SpenceJo Spence
Audre LordeAudre Lorde
Yvonne BuchheimYvonne Buchheim
Guadalupe MaravillaGuadalupe Maravilla
Simon WatneySimon Watney
Anne BoyerAnne Boyer
Suleika JaouadSuleika Jaouad
Joey SolomonJoey Solomon
Stephen StarkmanStephen Starkman
Andrea GibsonAndrea Gibson
Mary CappelloMary Cappello
Alicia OstrikerAlicia Ostriker
Pelenakeke BrownPelenakeke Brown
Navild Acosta and Fannie SosaNavild Acosta and Fannie Sosa
PerelPerel
Alice WongAlice Wong
Carolyn LazardCarolyn Lazard
Ezra BenusEzra Benus
Naomi OrtizNaomi Ortiz
Cancer Care CollectiveCancer Care Collective