ChairBody (Entangled), 2024, Archival Pigment Print, 24 x 30 inches.
NATALIE DE SEGONZAC
Artist Statement
I work in photography and utilize self-portraiture to investigate what it means to be a person who uses a wheelchair in a world not built with disabled bodies in mind. I have embraced my wheelchair as an extension of myself. She is ultimately my freedom, even if to many she is a symbol of my loss.
By performing for the camera I explore the evolution of a changed body and identity through a disabled lens. In staging my photographs, I incorporate sculptural elements and materials for the body to engage with, such as rope, fabric and light. I create new shapes and silhouettes, blurring the line between myself and my wheelchair, abstracting and transforming both into new forms. Eager for my body to express itself through movement, I arrive at my compositions through choreography and gesture, navigating the various materials with which my chair and body interact.
My wandering spirit looks for a place to anchor down to the land, so I find new ways to connect, new pathways to make. Placing myself in the frame grounds me even as I am suspended above the earth in my wheelchair. I surrender to my limitations, revealing the body’s potential and the endless expansiveness of the mind.
My process is developed by a structure dictated by my body’s abilities. Working within these constrained set of conditions becomes a creative tool. An image is not bound by a definition, so neither am I. My photography practice allows me to claim my space in this world. I am in pursuit of a dialogue about what makes us human: endurance, empathy and the ability to change both mind and body.