Transcript for the Piece Audio version of Super Heroes, Super Villains, and Disability

[room sounds]

[Andrew 1] At the corner of 16th and Arkansas in a large warehouse, a wash of afternoon light cascades down from above into a bustling art studio. Poet and artist Michael Bernard Loggins is working on a portrait of Batman trapped in a moment of self-doubt. He?s crying.

[Michael 1] I gave him a reason to cry.

Michael is one of roughly 20 artists with developmental disabilities that each week visits the studio of Creativity Explored II. They?re finishing up work for an upcoming exhibit called Super Heroes Super Villains. It?s an opportunity for someone like Michael to look at themselves next to the sizable shadows cast by Batman and his cronies.

[Michael] Heroes are humans like everybody else? like the rest of us.

[Andrew 3] A surprising observation, but it?s this kind of truth that Francis Kohler wanted to explore when he decided to curate Super Heroes Super Villains. He researched the characters that had disabilities themselves: villains disfigured by scientific experiments gone awry, heroes with genetic mutations like the X men, and DC comic star Oracle who is paralyzed from the waist down. And he noticed something. They each had a sort of mythology behind them: a creation story? a reason for their disability? but their Super Hero trials and tribulations just weren?t that dynamic or real. Francis:

[Francis 1] You know they talk about their struggles but you don?t see them dealing with the day-to-day stuff that real people [phone rings] that real people in the real world deal with [answers phone] Creativity Explored II this is Francis.

[Andrew 4] Outside, Sue Chan is dealing with the day-to-day. [van sounds]

[Francis 2] I know I?m sorry. Ten fifteen minutes they told me. I?m sorry [Sue yells] I know! No good! But soon, soon the van comes. Ok, I promise?. soon. Ok? Her van?s running really late today.

[Andrew 5] Like Sue, many who frequent Creativity Explored are dependant on vans equipped with a lift for wheelchairs. Thanh Diep has cerebral palsy and uses a chair. There?s a sense of poetic justice in her portrait of Wonder Woman also using a wheelchair. Thanh uses a communication device to speak.

[typing, grunting sounds]

[Thanh 1] I - always - think - she?s - great - and - always - try - to - save - people - and - I - wanted - to - do - somebody - in - a - wheelchair.

[Andrew 6] Thanh wanted to give a quote-unquote ?normal? Super Hero a disability. And the result is, well, shocking? a rendering of Wonder woman absolutely foreign to anything I?ve ever seen before. This heroine appears charged with electricity, as if every atom of her skin, her hair, and wheelchair are standing on end. Francis?

[Francis] Well she works with the CP. She?s not overcoming it. It?s part of her, her style reflects how her body moves, [11.28.52s21 - 08:29] Her limbs and head kind of wiggle and swoop and dip. It?s an echo, it?s beautiful, astounding. [20:00] Her drawing style is really awfully beautiful on its own. Doesn?t need any help.

[Andrew 8] According to Michael Bernard Loggins, the Super Hero realm is not just merely outside of us.

[Michael 2] You too you can be one too, with your imagination. If you use your imagination in a good way. Right. That?s how to do it. Use it in a good way. What way can you be a hero? In what way can you be one?

[Andrew 9] For the exhibit, Michael created his own cast of characters, compiled into an original comic book. There?s Super Cat who ?wears freaky underwear and saves kittens out of tall trees in a single bound? and Super Average Girl just ?trying to stay as average as she can be.? But Gordon Shepard isn?t so sure about any of these Super Hero traits.

[Crumpling paper and ripping tape sounds]

[Gordon 1] I don?t know, maybe strong. I started looking at them in the comic books and they were just characters. Nobody?s perfect!

[Andrew 10] He?s so calm and quiet it?s a bit surprising to find out that he identifies more with the Super Villains.

[Gordon 2] I?m going to portray the joker. Makes people laugh. He was a criminal but he made people laugh?. and America does not know how to laugh. Oh yes. Definitely.

[Andrew 11] But that may not be as easy as it sounds. First he?ll have to get past?

[Michael 3] Super serious man to save lives in a serious way. No laughing matter. [laughs]. I didn?t laugh. [laughs] [clapping]

[Andrew 12] Whether it?s kids playing with dolls or adults watching Spiderman on the Big Screen, we all use the imaginary realm to define and understand ourselves... similar to how dreams reflect what we experience while we?re awake. When advocating for a more realistic portrayal in the media of someone with disabilities, no matter where they lie on the disability spectrum, sometimes you just have to take charge and just create your own cast? your own set of super stars you can relate to. Like Michael says, ?they?re imaginary super heroes,? but they are equally as important as quote-unquote ?real? super heroes.

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