Carly “Car” Riegger is one of nine winners of the 2024 Midwest Award for Artists with Disabilities. This award is designed to support accessibility in the arts and celebrate the exceptional work of disabled Midwestern visual artists.
“My work is a direct response to my life with Ehlers Danlos Syndrome (EDS), an inherited disorder that causes pain in the connective tissues throughout the body. My experience is grounded in many hospitals stays, surgeries, and being constantly unsure of the cause of pain in my body. My work documents, preserves, and expresses my inner turmoil and disability, as it is not always visible to others. Many people have denied me care, made judgements or decisions based on my physical appearance, therefore, I create work that documents my internal state as an undeniable physical expression of my pain. These situations are common among people with disabilities, so I aim to bring this important topic to light through honoring true representations of my own disabled experience. I use various materials to convey both the tenuous state of an ill body and the way it is perceived. With many inaccurate and ableist historical and societal interpretations of the disabled body, I choose to speak about my own experience through the disabled lens as a reclamation of my identity.“