BBC News
By Keiligh Baker
image copyrightDisability Arts Online/ Rae Goddard
It sounds like the beginning of a vaguely inappropriate joke: what do the silent film actress, the suffragette and the most famous deaf-blind woman in history have in common?
But it s no joke. And in this case, fact is probably stranger than fiction because these three women - Charlie Chaplin s mentor, a brick-throwing activist and a revolutionary - were all disabled feminist pioneers of the early twentieth century.
Now, the inner lives of Mabel Normand, Rosa May Billinghurst and Helen Keller have been laid bare with a new unsanitised and fictionalised retelling of true events for a podcast.
They are working in pairs on three projects, documenting their experiences as they go. Abi Wheeler, Ryde Arts s creative director, said: “We wanted to explore the possibilities of collaboration at a time when people felt personally and professionally isolated from each other. We have had the pleasure of working with six inspiring creatives in diverse disciplines, from across the UK.” Sue Parakseva and Julian Winslow have paired up to create one-off altered ceramics and layered, photographic images. They have been inspired by the emotions and feelings generated by an old threepenny bit. Sue Paraskeva said: “The Covid Commissions provided a much needed creative and playful interlude during lockdown.