disabled residency: at the office
"At the Office" reimagines disability as a foundation for creative practice and self-defined freedom. Receiving Wajong benefits through UWV, Yelena treats these disability benefits as an artist residency, a source of financial stability that allows her to create without the usual financial constraints. Her journey began with a forced hospitalization in 2014 for acute psychosis, an experience that profoundly shaped her life and artistic path. Living with schizophrenia, Yelena manages her condition daily through medication and lifestyle adjustments, all while navigating the isolation, stigma, and judgment often associated with mental illness and disability. At the disabled residency, Yelena confronts the complexities of her position as a disabled artist and full-time mother who lives outside the mainstream art world. She frequently encounters stigma surrounding disability benefits, facing judgment both for “profiting” from state support and for her marginal position within the art community. Living in a small provincial town, without a formal fine arts background and working with challenging themes, Yelena’s path is far removed from the traditional art world’s center. However, her motto—“start where you are, do what you can with what you have”—defines her practice. "At the Office" focuses on Yelena’s experience during a second hospitalization for cerebral venous sinus thrombosis, a life-threatening condition managed with blood thinners and amitriptyline for persistent headaches. Immersing herself in this experience as a reporter, Yelena documented her surroundings with her smartphone, capturing raw, intimate moments within the hospital that reveal a personal view of care and resilience. Through the lens of disability studies and crip theory, Yelena reframes her medical experience as artistic material, challenging ableist narratives and asserting her identity as an artist. In this bubble she’s created, Yelena explores new forms of recognition and artistic freedom that push the boundaries of art, disability, and agency.
