riel Sturchio (they/she) uses their experiences as a queer, chronically ill artist to provoke and criticize socially idealized normative fantasies of beauty, ability, and gender identity. They pair their academic background in critical queer phenomenology, bodily disorientation, and affect to explore the sculptural tactility of sound, the mediation of distance through varieties of touch, and the value of bodily awareness. They are interested in how chronic disease forces their body into disorientation through and use this disoriented perspective as a foundation for active witnessing rituals.

Bianca Sturchio (she/her) is a mixed-media artist who uses her experiences of disability and queerness to inform her approach to abstract painting, jewelry making, and photography. She collaborates photographically with her twin sister and is also a co-founder of Begin Collective. She holds a BSW (2019) and MSW (2020) in Social Work from the University of Southern Maine.

rielsturchio.com/

begincollective.com/isysm