Join Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha and Zoe Zahava Steinberg as they discuss their creative work and their experiences with access and inclusion in the art world and academia. This conversation will be moderated by Amze Emmons, Assistant Professor of Printmaking at the Tyler School of Art and Architecture.

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Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha (they/she) is a nonbinary femme disabled writer and disability and transformative justice movement worker of Burgher and Tamil Sri Lankan, Irish and Galician/Roma ascent. They are the author or co-editor of ten books, including The Future Is Disabled: Prophecies, Love Notes and Mourning Songs; Beyond Survival: Stories and Strategies from the Transformative Justice Movement (co-edited with Ejeris Dixon); Tonguebreaker; and Care Work: Dreaming Disability Justice. A Disability Futures Fellow, Lambda Award winner and longtime disabled BIPOC space maker, they are currently building Living Altars, a cultural space by and for disabled QTBIPOC writers and creators.

Zoe Zahava Steinberg (they/them) is a Brooklyn-based artist and advocate. Zoe's artwork centers their personal experience as a queer person with disabilities, often taking reference from the barriers encountered while navigating a biased society. At the end of 2022, Zoe successfully completed their Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in printmaking from Tyler School of Art and Architecture. They have been a strong advocate for accessibility in the arts and actively contribute as a consultant for the Accessibility Working Group at Tyler. Additionally, Zoe works as a designer for the Brooklyn Center for Independence of the Disabled (BCID) in Brooklyn. They have also pursued a career as a model and are currently signed with the BTWN agency.

The Critical Dialogues Series is supported by the Temple University General Activities Fund. 

This event is co-hosted by Access in Art and Design, presenting programming on accessibility and inclusivity in creative fields.

Accessibility: ASL interpreters and live captioning/CART will be provided for this virtual event. Please contact maggie.dunkle@temple.edu for special accommodation or questions. 

Image descriptions:
Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha (left): A nonbinary femme with sand colored skin, green and brown curly hair and purple lipstick grins in front of a blooming jasmine vine.

Zoe Zahava Steinberg (right): A non-binary femme sitting in a motorized wheelchair wearing a pinstriped suit with orange shoulder-length hair, smiling at the camera. In the background, there are 3 slightly blurred prints on the wall.