Art for Social Change

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VISUALS: RMIT University logo appears on a white background. The “RMIT University” text merges into the red pixel shape before expanding to reveal Rachel Shugg in a black dress sitting on a wheelchair with a green and pink wall behind her.

AUDIO: Soft synthetic music plays in background.

TEXT: Rachel Shugg. Artist.

[Rachel Shugg]

Hi, my name is Rachel. I'm a Melbourne based fashion practitioner currently creating on Wurundjeri land.

VISUALS: Someone is touching a handmade piece of fabric with colourful pleated patterns. Rachel sitting at a table with a man and gesturing to print of a 2D design.

My practise currently looks at creating accessible and inclusive fashion design, which is clothing for people with disabilities.

VISUALS: Rachel moves her arm around a close up of the 2D print, which depicts three images of people making art in a room while wearing plastic overalls. Rachel in a black dress sitting on a wheelchair with a green and pink wall behind her.

The title of this project is called Metropolis and it was inspired by my own barriers of inaccessibility whilst navigating a city, essentially, that is vastly populated but still so inaccessible.

VISUALS: A window with a sign on it that reads “Metropolis”.

TEXT: Samuel Coombs. Project Champion. RUSU Disability and Carers Officer.

VISUALS: Samuel Coombs and Rachel sitting at a table with papers and cell phone having a conversation. Rachel is moving a panel of the large piece of handmade fabric.

My intention going into We Belong was to create connection and belonging with the students through creativity.

VISUALS: Close up of hands touching the fabric with colourful pleated patterns. Rachel in a black dress sitting on a wheelchair with a green and pink wall behind her.

I want this project to be a celebration of disability and a symbol of the hidden struggles that is often experienced by many of us who identify as being deaf and/or disabled.

VISUALS: A pink sign that says “Metropolis. Make your mark”. Yellow raincoats hanging on a rack in a room. Someone buttoning a raincoat sleave and wearing an Apple Watch. People in paint-stained yellow raincoats standing in front of a room. Rachel sitting on a bench with fabrics behind her in front of an indoor area. Moving up a glass lift with a room in the background. A rectangular unit with four compartments lined with fabric. There are three white pillows on top of the box and a paint bottle and two paint trays on the floor.

Stage one Metropolis was about creating a space for people who identified as being deaf and disabled.

VISUALS: Birds eye view of the room with another box unit and more paint trays. Ground level view of the same room. View of a room with a sign that says “Metropolis”.

The room was lined with calico, which is an unbleached form of cotton, and it was completely blank.

VISUALS: Man in a yellow raincoat painting on a wall and wearing hair net and protective eyewear. Man walks in a circle on fabric floor leaving paint stained footprints behind him. Woman in yellow raincoat laying on floor pouring paint over herself.

It was a space where they could be allowed to express themselves freely and move however they wanted to move.

VISUALS: A sign that is in front of the Metropolis glass windows. Person is mixing pink and blue paint in their gloved hand with their finger and then painting on the wall. Painting on the wall of a room with a person in yellow jacket. Person in yellow raincoat sitting on floor next to window.

As joyful and as playful as it was, it was also a space for pain and contemplation.

VISUALS: Close up of person sitting cross legged on the floor and painting with gloved hands on the wall. Birds eye view of person kneeling on floor and painting. Person in paint stained yellow raincoat pressing their body against the wall to paint. Man in yellow raincoat pouring paint from a container into the palm of his hand. Person dragging a white pillow out of the blue paint tray. Two people standing and painting on the wall with their hands.

A student remarked that having the freedom welcomed inside the space allowed me to earnestly drag my pained body, no pretending in movement, jaunted, frustrated, stiff, dynamic, creak.

VISUALS: Close up of person’s legs and they walk around the floor making imprints with their footwear. A sign that reads “Notice the marks you make”. Several people in yellow raincoats standing in a room, laughing and wiping paint off their hands. People in yellow raincoats are standing outside the room. On the left, people are partly dressed in the yellow raincoats, and on the right side, people in yellow raincoats are standing in the room with painted walls and boxes.

So it was a real space for connection, empowerment and creating a sense of community.

VISUALS: Birds eye view of the room with many white boxes and painted floors and walls. People in yellow raincoats standing amongst the white and painted boxes in the room.

Stage two Metropolis was about opening the invitation to everybody, regardless of access needs.

VISUALS: Woman lifting a large white box with green paint stains. Another woman holding a colourful map and searching around the painted boxes. Two people in yellow raincoats step up, one is holding the map. Close up of person holding the map and pointing to a section of it. Woman in yellow raincoat wearing a face mask is holding the map in one hand and painting a green box with yellow paint with her other hand. People walk through the room with half painted boxes and painted walls.

And once they got inside the space, they found that the room was filled with barriers and they had to make their own journey.

VISUALS: Woman is sitting amongst the half painted boxes and paints the bottom box of a column of boxes with her hand. Person walks up to a wall, spreads arms out and presses body against the wall to paint it. Two people wearing paint stained yellow raincoats painting a column of smaller boxes stuck together. Three people talking to each other in the midst of the boxes in the room.

I was really struck with how other students had started to rethink inclusion collectively rather than a fixed way.

VISUALS: Mid-shot of a woman laughing and holding pillows covered in red paint. Person restacking half painted boxes with another person looking on. Woman in paint stained yellow raincoat holding a paint tray with one hand and painting the wall with the other hand.

One student commented, “I realised that you can't build a city out of seeing just one perspective.

VISUALS: Birds eye view of several people painting boxes in the room. Person holding a painted pillow and moving boxes aside. Rachel is wearing a yellow raincoat and painting the wall with paint stained gloves. Close up of a taped up front wheel moving forwards. Rachel sits in a wheelchair wearing the yellow raincoat looking around the floor as she wheels herself around.

We need a better overview of a whole area to connect places with each other instead of making singular places accessible and claiming the whole area to be”.

VISUALS: Performer is wearing dark overalls, holding out arm and hand covered in gold paint as it drips down to the floor while they walk around. Performer sitting on floor and starting to pick up a box. Performer presses their head to the floor. Birds eye view of performer rolling around on the paint stained floor while moving painted objects around.

TEXT: Grey (Caitlin) Dear. Performer.

Stage three was where we invited a performer who identified as being disabled into the space to create a final journey.

VISUALS: Performer is laying on the floor on their stomach with a raised leg and touching the surface of the painted floor. Performer is sitting cross legged on the painted floor and paints white strokes on a paint stained pillow. Performer is laying underneath a pile of paint stained pillows and boxes. Several people walking past the Metropolis glass fronted windows.

It was a way of connecting the space and the stories together.

VISUALS: Performer stands on a painted box and crushes it with their foot. Performer presses one of the paint stained pillows against the wall and reveals large blotches of white paint. Rachel moves around the paint stained room smiling and looking around the floor area. Two people are writing messages on windows while other people walk past. Man standing in front of a window with handwritten messages gesticulating and talking. Close up of another man kneeling down and writing a message on the window. Panning down one of the handwritten messages on the window.

TEXT: Being a newcomer in the city can be scary. I felt all blank on the first day in my city. All the buildings felt like blocks of obstacles but in my mind I believed that I’ll pass it. The game felt like de-ja-vu. But I know I’ll pass it.

Throughout this process, I've come to believe that by dedicating safe spaces and working with multidisciplinary creatives, we open the door to meaningful arts that explore marginalised experiences, such as disability and the intersections that shape them.

VISUALS: Woman leans hand against window post and writes a message on the glass. Person cuts fabric with scissors. Cut up pieces of hand painted fabric piled together. Rachel sits in front of sewing machine handling pieces of hand painted fabric. Close up of sewing machine needle piercing through painted fabric.

They safeguard against burnout, reminding us that collective care and shared expressions can be vital in sustaining our work and ourselves.

VISUALS: Close up of person wearing several rings cutting hand painted fabric with scissors. Rachel cutting hand painted fabric with scissors in front of a large window. Rachel sitting at a sewing machine and working with a large piece of fabric. Camera pans over fabric with colourful pleated patterns. Person carries the large, pleated, hand painted fabric through a concreted space surrounded by large windows.

I want the students to come away from this project with a sense of belonging and connection, but also a stronger sense of what inclusion and accessibility actually means.

VISUALS: Close up of person applying a white coat of glue on a large board using a paint roller. Looking through an exterior window into the concreted space where two people are kneeling on the floor installing the large, pleated, hand painted fabric on a display. Close up of a person using a Stanley knife to cut along the large, pleated, hand painted fabric. Two people lifting a large horizontal panel into place against a large window. A group of people, standing and sitting, in front of the large panel with the pleated, hand painted fabric.

TEXT: Many perspectives make a metropolis. Notice the marks you make.

And consider what being an ally for accessibility means in their own personal lives.

VISUALS: Rachel seated in a wheelchair talking to a woman in front of the pleated, hand painted fabric panel and moving her hand along its surface.

You might see the text, ‘notice the marks you make’.

VISUALS: Close up of a person holding a patch of the pleated hand painted fabric with a pair of scissors in their other hand. Camera pans along a purple sign with white text on it sitting on top of the hand painted fabric. Two women seated at a bench that is scattered with pieces of the fabric, and containers holding coloured pens and scissors. A woman is bent over writing on a card at the bench.

TEXT: Metropolis. What does allyship mean to you?

During this process, ‘notice the marks you make’ evolved from an observation of care into a call for action.

VISUALS: A man is holding a microphone and talking to a large group of people in a room surrounded by windows. Samuel Coombs is standing in front of the large group of people giving a speech. A large group of people are standing and listening to a speech. Rachel is seated in front of a microphone, laughing and looking down at her phone in front of a group of people. Looking in through two large window panels where a crowd of people are socialising. Rachel seated and talking to a person in front of the pleated, hand painted fabric panel. A woman wearing pink and orange clothing is smiling and running her hand along the hand painted fabric.

I hope that it serves as a moment in this journey, showing the marks and the movements that are in the spaces we share and reminding us that accessibility is only the first step to creating a community of belonging.

VISUALS: People walking through the interior of a modern, multi-level building with stairs and an escalator. The large panel of the pleated, hand painted fabric is displayed behind glass windows in the centre of the frame. The large panel of the pleated, hand painted fabric now fills the frame showing the vibrant colours on display.

I invite you all to notice the marks you make and their deep impact.

VISUALS: Screen goes to white before the RUSU logo appears in the centre of the frame. The RUSU logo then scrolls up the screen and the RMIT logo scrolls up into frame. The white background then reduces in size to reveal the RMIT pixel which is sitting on a blue background before turning red and displaying white text “Thanks SSAF” alongside a tick in a circle. The blue background swipes across to reveal a white background and the red pixel slides across the screen to exit the frame on the right while the RMIT University logo appears and the red pixel slides back into frame from the left side to sit alongside the logo.

TEXT: RUSU. RMIT University Student Union. RMIT University. Student Life Creative.

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