Molly Joyce - Perspective

PERSPECTIVE

MOLLY JOYCE

Image description: A black square with a grey/noise triangle facing to the right. Below the triangle is text that reads “Perspective” and “Molly Joyce.”

Release date: October 28. 2022

On October 28, 2022, Molly Joyce, an artist motivated by and through and because of disability, an artist with “serene power” (The New York Times)—one of the “most versatile, prolific, and intriguing composers working under the vast new-music dome” (The Washington Post)—releases her new work, Perspective, on New Amsterdam Records. At the age of seven, Joyce’s left hand was nearly amputated in a car accident. After two decades of rejecting the label, Joyce now proudly identifies as disabled, using her impaired left hand to play her vintage toy organ, an instrument seemingly custom-built for her impairment, with “superb effect” (The Wire). On Perspective, Joyce moves beyond her own disability to highlight voices of the wider disabled community—both literally and figuratively. 

Perspective is an ongoing project featuring disabled participants who respond to what access, care, interdependence, and more means to them,” says Joyce. “Judith Heumann, the legendary disability activist known for her role in the Academy Award-nominated documentary Crip Camp and the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), once asked me why I refer to my impaired left hand as ‘weak.’ This question struck me personally and almost politically, as it became clear that I was categorizing my disability within narrow definitions of what weakness can and should be.” 

  • Heumann’s question inspired Perspective, Joyce’s multidisciplinary work featuring 47 disabled interviewees, worldwide, whose impairments range from physical to visual to intellectual to auditory, and whose backgrounds span race, class, gender, religion, and sexuality—veterans, activists, academics, pageant models, and others. On Perspective, Joyce asks her disability community numerous questions: “What is weakness for you?” “What is access for you?” and other queries related to their disabilities.

    “I wondered if rethinking ‘weakness’ might foster a broader understanding of the term, of related terms, and of terms central to disability culture,” says Joyce. “The aim was to highlight the diversity and plurality of the disability community and, hopefully, reframe collective perceptions about disability.” The composer recorded the disabled interviewees’ responses and underscored the audio with her voice and vintage toy organ. But unlike most albums, Perspective is more than an aural experience. In an effort to be all-inclusive, to highlight multisensory accessibility, the new piece is designed to be listened to alongside a series of open-caption videos.

    Before Perspective, Joyce’s work explored her relationship with disability, though she’d been longing to widen her focus, to engage her community. “For a long time, I wondered how to authentically highlight voices and viewpoints of the disability community, an incredibly diverse yet unified identity, and experience,” says Molly Joyce. “I hope Perspective offers singular insights into these outlooks by valuing the disabled experience as one all can learn from and engage with.”

  • Credits:

    Molly Joyce, composer and performer

    Michael Hammond, producer, mixing engineer, mastering engineer

    Halcyon Arts Lab, DC iteration commissioner

    Surel's Place, Idaho iteration commissioner

    Open Arms Dance Project, Idaho iteration producer and collaborator

    Dr. Tom von Sternberg and Eve Parker, Minnesota iteration commissioners

    The Great Northern Festival, Minnesota iteration producer

    Metropolis Ensemble, Assistant Producer

    Sandy Guttman, Project Curator

    Perspective was produced with residencies at Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts, Halcyon Arts Lab, and Surel's Place.

    Perspective was developed with presentations at Americans for the Arts, Ars Nova, Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts, Gaudeamus Muziekweek, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, The Momentary, National Sawdust, and The Peace Studio.

    Special thanks to: Rachel Adams, Megan Brandel, Nicole Dowd, Jodi Eichelberger, Marne Elmore, Greg Hahn, Judi and Ed Joyce, Michael Kaufmann, Cynthia Post Hunt, Emma Saperstein, Ben Swartz, and Aisha White.

    First Iteration // Halcyon Arts Lab in Washington, DC

    Day Al-Mohamed

    Sabrina Epstein

    JJJJJerome Ellis

    Shannon Finnegan

    Matthew Flanagan

    David Furukawa

    Jerron Herman

    Nicole Kelly

    Miso Kwak

    Lachi

    Robert McRuer

    Michael Marceau

    Diego Mariscal

    Robin Marquis

    Yoshi Nakamura

    Adam Roberge

    Tom Shakespeare

    Stefan Sunandan Honisch

    Peter Wehrli

    Erin Weierbach

    Alice Wong

    Second Iteration // Open Arms Dance Project and Surel’s Place in Boise, ID

    Kristen Beaver

    Megan Brandel

    Gail C. Hawkins

    Hava Fisherman

    Heather Marie

    Cade Willes *interviewed with grandmother Kay Willis

    Third Iteration // The Great Northern Festival in Twin Cities, MN

    Katie De Leo

    Richard Grimm

    Arbdella Hudson

    Katrina Jirik

    Kevin Kling

    Amoke Kubat

    Gaelynn Lea

    Chris Martin

    Nicole Mary Milligan

    Leslye Orr

    Atlas O. Phoenix

    Donna Ray

    Gabriel Rodreick

    Danny Roherty

    Matthew Sanford

    Andy Slater

    Nathan R. Stenberg

    Poppy Jean Sundquist

    Mai Thor

    Debbie Towey


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