Meet the visual artist who uses her experience of being partially sighted to inspire change
From supporting museums and galleries to meet the needs of disabled visitors to training architects on building design, Zoe Partington is helping to make art accessible to all.
The contemporary visual artist uses her experience of being partially sighted and living with a chronic condition for 50 years to inspire positive change in the arts, heritage and culture sector.
As a creative consultant and international advisor, she works with cultural attractions to develop their skills and experience for meeting the needs of disabled visitors.
Working from her studio in Cleobury Mortimer, Zoe's own artwork encompasses multi-media visual arts, light and sound installations and sculpture.
She specialises in disability art, which is creating art unique to herself as a disabled person with her life experiences. "It can be quite political as well," says Zoe.
"My job is getting people to think differently and it’s about reframing how they think about disability and disability art. It’s done in an equality framework, which means it ensures that you are treating people in a proper manner and you are supporting their human rights too," she explains.
Being creative has always been something that has come naturally to Zoe, who studied at Ludlow Sixth Form College. "I had a really fantastic art teacher there who taught me to paint."
"Then I did an Art Foundation course and I was completely bowled over by their History of Art teachers, because they had such huge knowledge of the history and heritage of art and architecture."
Zoe went on to study for a BA (Hons) degree in media and design at the University of Portsmouth. "That’s when I started thinking about my uniqueness in a disability art perspective," she explains.
"Then I saw the work by Jo Spence, an artist who had quite a serious health condition, and we met and she talked about how she mapped experiences she was going through. Looking at gender issues, part of my dissertation was about women and representation in the media, but my final art piece was about being a disabled female."
Her art journey then took her to Birmingham City University when she studies for a Post Graduate Diploma in the history of art, design and architecture.
"We had incredible lecturers, who took us on museum and gallery visits all over the place, including New York.
