2025/2026 Call for Art from Deaf Artists

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2025/2026 Call for Art from Deaf Artists 〰️

DEAF & DISABILITY ARTS EXHIBIT

JANUARY 9 - FEBRUARY 20, 2026

ARTISTS IMAGE RESOURCE

Anthropology of Motherhood’s Deaf and Disability Arts Exhibit marks a powerful milestone—ten years after We Art Here (2016), Pittsburgh’s first disability arts exhibition, curated by Anthropology of Motherhood founder Fran Flaherty and presented during the 25th anniversary of the ADA in partnership with the Three Rivers Arts Festival and the Kennedy Center’s LEAD conference. Building on that groundbreaking foundation, this new exhibition advances Anthropology of Motherhood’s commitment to cultivating disability arts in Pittsburgh by increasing awareness of disability justice and amplifying Deaf and disabled artists’ creative expressions. Featuring accessible programming, community dialogue, and innovative interdisciplinary work, the exhibit strengthens Pittsburgh’s growing role as a hub for disability arts. This event is generously supported by the Opportunity Fund of Pittsburgh.

Image Description: Anthropology of Motherhood logo depicts the abstract outline of a bare-breasted mother looking down at their baby in bold, thick, black strokes.

AN ONGOING PROJECT

ANTHROPOLOGY
of MOTHERHOOD

The Anthropology of Motherhood project is an ongoing curation of artwork and design that engages in the complex visual, material, emotional, corporeal and lived experiences of motherhood, care-giving, parenting, nurturing and maternal labor.

“We must expand the definition of motherhood - motherhood in physiology, socio-economic terms, gender, and race.”

— Flan Flaherty, AoM Founder

Background Video by Sarah Shotts.

SUPPORT ONGOING PROGRAMMING

ANTHROPOLOGY of MOTHERHOOD

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Since 2016, Anthropology of Motherhood has provided ongoing curation of artwork and design that engages in the complex visual, material, emotional, corporeal and lived experiences of motherhood, care-giving, parenting, nurturing and maternal labor. As an annual hybrid amenity/exhibit at the Three Rivers Arts Festival, our message and aesthetic of the Culture of Care has reached thousands of viewers, instilling the value of caregivers and the importance of prioritizing compassion and care in our daily lives. Our exhibits have traveled to McDonough Museum of Art, Sleeth Gallery and will be exhibiting at Dyers Art Center in Rochester, NY in 2023. With support from the Opportunity Fund (Pittsburgh) and in collaboration with the City of Asylum, we recently concluded our speaker series, Culture of Care inviting artist-caregivers from around the world to share where caregiving and receiving intersects with their practice.

We are excited to announce a partnership with Amherst College Press to develop a full color edited volume of Anthropology of Motherhood with an expected publish date of Fall 2026, in time for our 10th year anniversary.Your generous support will allow us to continue our work through exhibits, programs, and our upcoming book.

Thank you.

“I want to make sure that we are more in tune with the principles of the social model of disability and continue to use the arts, not only to showcase and develop the artists within Wales, but also capture opportunities to highlight social injustice.

All arts are in some way political [with a small ‘p’] and have a function beyond admiration and entertainment. They capture moments from beauty to suffering, they affirm and motivate us, they mirror society to raise concerns, and give us hope in our shared humanity.”

— Ruth Fabby, Disability Arts CYMRU

“Indigenous people have stewarded Alaska for thousands of years. Their holistic understanding of the environment created a sustainable and symbiotic relationship with the waters, plants and animals of the land.”

“Land Acknowledgment is the public recognition of this knowledge and care. We look to Indigenous Elders and their youth for guidance. It is only Indigenous ways of being that will ensure our collective future.”

— MELISSA SHAGINOFF, of the Udzisyu and Cui Ui Ticutta clans in Nay'dini'aa Na Kayax

“How I can create more opportunities in public spaces where mothers can practice patience, care and grace on and for themselves?”

— Jessica Moss, Artist