Credit: Video courtesy of Erin Ball and the Pandemic Postcards project, curated by Alex Bulmer and produced by Harbourfront Centre in 2020.

Erin Ball is a Mad, Disabled circus artist and educator. The primary disruption in Ball’s work is that ze performs highly detailed and difficult circus performances on silks as a double below-the-knee amputee. Zir body is a visual disruption of societal expectations for stage performers, let alone those in a physically demanding role. Ball is a performer-athlete who aims to dismantle ableism in circus learning spaces. In zir piece Big Birthday from the 2020 Pandemic Postcards project, Ball celebrates zir 40th birthday with confetti. For Disabled people, celebration of our lives is always a radical act.