Sunaura Taylor

Sunaura "Sunny" Taylor (born March 22, 1982 in Tucson , Arizona ) is an American artist and activist who primarily deals with the rights of people with disabilities .

Sunny was born with arthrogryposis multiplex congenita and uses a wheelchair. It is assumed that trichloroethene pollution from industrial waste in drinking water was the cause of their illness. Since her birth, her family and other affected persons have been committed to political recognition of the special needs that arise from various illnesses and deaths, as well as the responsibility of the corresponding companies. In 1995, they were awarded rights in a class action lawsuit .

Sunaura Taylor was home schooled . She then studied at Goddard College and at the University of California, Berkeley , where she also taught in 2008. She is an active member of the Society for Disability Studies ( Society for the Study of disability ).

Her work has been exhibited many times in the United States, including the Smithsonian Institution . A text by her about herself and the movement for the rights of people with disabilities appeared in the Monthly Review in 2004 and attracted national interest. The self-portrait entitled Self Portrait with TCE , in which she used trichlorethylene as a dye, was the first picture that this newspaper printed in its existence since 1949.

Sunny is the sister of the director Astra Taylor , who in her film Examined Life also staged a stroll by Sunny with the philosopher Judith Butler , during which they philosophize together about queerness and body norms . In the conversation she remembers that as a child she was often told by other children that she walked “like a monkey ” and questions the concept of humanity and the limits to the non-human . Taylor is an abolitionist vegan .

Awards

• 2018: American Book Award for Beasts of Burden: Animal and Disability Liberation
• 2008: Joan Mitchell Foundation Prize
• 2004: Grand Prize of the VSA arts foundation

Web links

• Website
• AL Brown: Sunny Taylor: A Profile . In: Free Williamsburg . 1, No. 22, January 2002.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Sunny Taylor: Portraits of Early Success - An audio feature through npr.org
2. ↑ Curriculum Vitae on their homepage.
3. ↑ Sunaura Taylor: The Right Not to Work: Power and Disability . In: Monthly Review . 55, No. 10, 2004.
4. ↑ Self Portrait with TCE on sunaurataylor.org
5. ↑ Sunaura Taylor: Is It Possible to Be a Conscientious Meat Eater? . In: AlterNet , February 18, 2009.  ( Alternative version of the same text)
6. ^ S. Taylor: Beasts of Burden: Disability Studies and Animal Rights . In: Qui Parle: Critical Humanities and Social Sciences . 19, No. 2, 2011, ISSN  1938-8020 , pp. 191-222. doi : 10.5250 / quiparle.19.2.0191 .
7. ↑ Feature ( Memento of the original from September 19, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. as the winner of the VSA arts on their website.