I am a visually impaired and hearing impaired artist making art with clay. I was artist in residence at Maxability, a ceramics studio for disabled people, in spring/summer 2024. I used the residency to make a library of animal sculptures, which can be enjoyed by blind and visually impaired adults and young people – and everyone! I created a sound library of animal noises which can be played alongside the sculptures, to create a multi-sensory experience of the animal kingdom.
When my vision first started to deteriorate, I thought I would never be able to play football again. But then I learned about the partially sighted football league, and I started to play for the London team. I won player of the year for the 2009-2010 season. Then I started playing blind cricket and took part in acoustic shooting competitions. I won medals in all of these sports, which is a great achievement to me. I also went on to work as a disability sports coach and a coach at the Tottenham Hotspur Foundation. I am still able to try and to succeed.
And now, art found me. Doing the artist residency is really good. It gets me out of the house, it’s good for the brain, it makes me feel like I’m doing something. I’m feeling more inspired, I’m still able. I’m in recovery at the moment and this is helping me to recover. Art keeps me motivated, focussed and empowered. I hope that this can inspire others to follow their own recovery.
When I was searching whether there was already a company called Still Able, I found that there wasn’t one, but there was a beautiful song. I find it very empowering. The message is what I’m promoting, that it’s not easy but we are still able to keep going. Here is that video: