Amy Thraves-Connor
Artist | Curator | Advocate
I am an artist, curator and disability advocate. I have professional experience working with multiple large cultural and heritage institutions as a curator and co-production facilitator, as well as creating commissioned artworks alongside my own art practice.
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What I Do
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I am an artist and urban sketcher, using the landscape and the world around me as my inspiration.
Click here to see examples of my work.
I like to be outside in the world when I am making work, and can often be found sitting on the pavement, in the woods, sheltering under a tree, capturing what I see. Since becoming disabled at the age of 14 from a rare neurological condition, art continues to be a big part of my recovery and acceptance, learning to appreciate and interact with the world around me in new and different ways. I feel the landscape, the sky, and the world around me gives. me the freedom that sometimes my body doesn’t offer me.
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Would you like a unique piece of artwork? I am available to take commissions in watercolour and acrylic of your house, business, favourite coffee spot, holiday memories, the view from your bedroom etc. Prices for watercolour drawings are £50 for A4 (equivalent) and £95 for A3 (equivalent). Contact me for prices of other mediums/sizes, or just for a discussion of your ideas!
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I am currently taking on freelance curating roles, having had professional experience curating with the National Railway Museum, Screen South/Accentuate as an alumnus of the Curating for Change project, and Leeds Museums and Galleries. Click here to read more about my curatorial work.
Particular areas of interest are:
Disability representation in museums
Accessible exhibition making and narratives
Art and art history, particularly 20th century - today
Disability and the natural world
I am also keen to explore opportunities outside of these subjects, using my knowledge, lived experience, and co-production to curate interesting and relevant projects.
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I speak and present to arts, heritage and cultural sector organisations, talking about my experience as a disabled person working in this sector. Click here to read more about my advocacy and speaking work. I am available for presentations and speaking engagements both in-person and online, on topics such as:
‘How to find disability representation in museum collections?’
Growing and improving the representation of disability in our sector
Community engagement and co-production
Accessible exhibition making
Workplace accessibility in the museum and heritage sector
Navigating the sector as a person with lived experience of disability
I have presented at
Arts Council Leadership Symposium
National Trust internal staff disability conference
Museums Association, All-Inclusive: Championing Accessible Museums conference
The SENsational Museum podcast
Art Fund, Going Places session
Prices for speaking engagements start from £100. Please contact me for more details - amythravesconnor@gmail.com
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I am passionate about giving disabled people the encouragement, ability and knowledge to participate in the arts and cultural heritage sector in ways that work for them. However, disabled people can’t do this alone. Institutions, and the sector in general, need to become…
Click here to read more about my advocacy and speaking work.