Change(lingers)
This creative research, which began in March 2025, explores themes of social justice, disability, oral history, and identity politics through the lens of the Germanic and Celtic folktale of the changeling. In these tales, a changeling is often portrayed as a fairy or elfin child that has been exchanged for a human baby by fairies or other supernatural beings.
By examining changeling stories from a disability perspective, we can see that they reflect societal fears and anxieties surrounding vulnerabilities related to disabilities and neurodivergent conditions. This inquiry builds upon my 2024 projects, (home)(stead) and Sanctuary, which focused on themes of generational trauma, familial oral history concerning resilience and hardship, and autoethnographic somatic practices to inspire movement.
The creative research for this project is ongoing, and the first piece premiered in May 2025 at Hamilton Studios in Spokane. We are currently developing work that explores common neurodivergent issues, such as difficulties with social cues, masking one's true self to appear more neurotypical, and the regulation and dysregulation of the nervous system through a neurodivergent lens.