Jade Mikell

JADE MIKELL is a disabled artist and activist working within institutional critique. Mikell investigates inheritance, labour, hierarchy, identity, community, social currency and sustainability. She cites her lived-experiences in an Anthroposophic ...

JADE MIKELL is a disabled artist and activist working within institutional critique. Mikell investigates inheritance, labour, hierarchy, identity, community, social currency and sustainability. She cites her lived-experiences in an Anthroposophic community and undergoing ABA therapy to identify, upend and communicate the demoralising and endangering effects of institutional inaccessibility. Mikell inspects the moral inadequacy assigned to disability in these environments through repurposing associated semiotics, often posited to have curative effect. in production, Mikell evaluates the history of material. She locates supplies entirely from sources that interrupt the sequence of consumption and disposal, emphasising upcycled, salvaged, and repurposed materials. Subverting performative exceptionalism and aesthetic focus has directed Mikell to reflect on how accessibility and sustainability often conflict. Her work intends to question how we might practise sustainability and conservation without relying on exclusion and exceptionalism. Mikell’s work has been exhibited in solo and group shows nationally and has been acquired by collectors internationally. Her art and activism work has been published in artist features and articles, she has been interviewed by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and she has lectured with the Esquimalt Art Gallery.