Para-representations is a small temporary exhibition which presents newly-commissioned work by artists Christopher Samuel and Sophie Hoyle in response to research generated by Emma Pullen and Michael Silk exploring the representation of gender in media coverage of the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games.

Sophie Hoyle’s short film combines archival imagery with interviews with members of queer and trans sports communities, in order to explore intersections of gender, race, disability and neurodivergence.

In Christopher Samuel’s short series of photographs, produced in collaboration with a commercial photographer, the artist turns the camera on himself in order to adopt and challenge the conventions which typically govern the production of images of para-athletes.

This artist commission is part of an Arts and Humanities Research Council funded re-search project led by Dr Emma Pullen (Loughborough University) and Prof Michael Silk (Bournemouth University), which takes an intersectional approach to exploring how gender is represented within media coverage of the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games. Pullen and Silk’s concerns in relation to these new media representations centre on the visibly gendered representations of some disabled bodies (typically white, upwardly mobile and technologically enhanced) and the marginalisation of others, which raise concerns as to what new forms of gendered/sexualised representations are emerging in Paralympic media. Their research asks who is included and who is marginalised, and what impact this has had on gendered/sexual empowerment and issues of gender equality for all disabled people.

Please email e.l.pullen@lboro.ac.uk for event details.