Through an embodied, research-based practice, I investigate the expressive possibilities that emerge by framing my body as an artistic instrument.
I work across photography, watercolor, video/film, and object making.
My work has been presented at a variety of venues, including the Sundance Film Festival, the John F. Kennedy Center, the Museum für Moderne Kunst, and Kunsthaus Zurich.
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(Image description) – My seated silhouette appears reflected on the interior metal door of an elevator. The image is distorted, with streaks of light emerging horizontally from my teal floral dress and the pink sweater I wear underneath.
Seated poses are reiterated in portraiture across cultures, eras, and mediums—an early observation I made while exploring The Met’s galleries. Spending the past year immersed in The Met’s treasures has been instrumental in my reconceptualization of all art as inherently subject to a disability reading.
Here, the goddess Diana is seated atop a stag, arrow in hand, arm steadied on the neck of the animal. This piece embodies the coexistence of man-made, mechanical elements with the aesthetic appeal of classical art, mythology, and elements of nature.
Embellished with delicate ornamentation, the intricate automation is concealed, and gold envelopes the 'hidden wheels' which 'once moved the group forward'—a detail which, as a wheelchair user, delights me. Disability is a driving force, even if not visible.
Michelle Miles – for the Met Museum (2020)
(Object details) – Automaton in the form of Diana and the stag, ca. 1620. Joachim Friess (German, ca. 1579–1620). Partially gilded silver, enamel, jewels (case); iron, wood (movement).
(Image description) – A partially nude female figure sits sideways, glancing upwards with an arrow in hand atop a lavishly decorated golden stag, while a small cupid figure sits behind her. Two leashed dogs sit below the stag and an additional dog leaps ahead. The dogs are joined by an assortment of reptiles on an ornate gold base.
bio – michelle miles
