Joy Murray interview excerpt for Opulent Mobility 20223-4
Channel: A. Laura Brody
Date: 2024-01-13

Excerpt from the interview with painter Joy Murray for Opulent Mobility 2023-4! Many thanks to Joy for joining us and sharing her striking book art. Interview by founder A. Laura Brody, ASL interpretation by Joe Roger Rivera Perez. Full video on the Opulent Mobility YouTube channel.

Joy Murray
http://joymurray.com/
Desire Seemed to Expand, 2020 Acrylic paint, mixed media
24” x 18”
Loneliness expands in the isolation of disability.

The Kiss, 2022 Acrylic paint, ink 24” x 20”
Reimagining the beauty of Klimt’s kiss

“I’ve used the arts to help navigate life, cope with a long term disability -- to find enchantment and insight...I like to encourage everyone to get on with their creative work. We all have unique stories to tell in unique ways. There are so many ways we are told through our lives to conform, to be quiet, and to not stir up trouble. I hope to resist that in my life and to help others resist. What we hide, what we cloak in shame, becomes toxic and keeps us from living fully. We are meant to learn and share our thoughts all through our lives. I hope to do what it takes to keep my sense of wonder alive and to report it back to you.

I've had hereditary Spasmatic Paraparalysis, a degenerative neurological disorder similar to Multiple Sclerosis, since I was 16. I've graduated from using a cane, then a walker, and now a wheelchair. I also have a mild bi-polar disorder that leans to the depressive side.”

Art descriptions by Teri Grossman:
Desire Seemed to Expand – Against a dark starry background, a naked woman sits in a gold power wheelchair. She has a pink complexion, blue eyes and faces us. A billowing scarf encircles her head and floats around her. The scarf has a pattern of feathers in shades of blue on a gold or pale-yellow background. The scarf threads through the fingers of one hand that rests just below her chin. Her other hand rests on one knee with the scarf flowing across her lap partially obscuring her pubic hair. She has a tattoo of three white flowers on her chest. White letters run along the blue edges of the scarf: “So many desires would go unmet”, “Nerve endings die but pain remained”, “She lost feeling and nerve endings died but pain remained”, and “Desire seems to expand”.

The Kiss – Two figures with elongated bodies kiss with their eyes closed. The figure on the left has a pale complexion and long red hair, and sits in a wheelchair. The one on the right has a brown complexion and short, curly dark hair. They wear a garment that is bright yellow with scattered rectangles of magenta, pale blue, dark green, orange, and royal blue. Where their lower bodies meet is an elongated heart. The figure on the right kneels on a green grass dotted with flowers. Ribbons of hearts flow over the seated one’s knees. A thick green vine with dark red flowers arcs over them both.

Opulent Mobility is an annual, international exhibit that asks artists to re-imagine disability as opulent and powerful. For more details on the exhibit and artists, go to www.opulentmobility (dot) com.