South West Disabled Artist Gathering
Introduction
Where We Land is a new gathering for disabled, deaf and neurodivergent artists from across South West England. Created by Spectroscope, the day brings together conversations, workshops, keynote speakers, quieter spaces and opportunities to reconnect with creative practice.
This is not a traditional conference. It is a thoughtful, artist-led space shaped around reflection, ambition, experimentation and community. Whether you are emerging, mid-career or established, Where We Land is a chance to pause, connect and imagine what comes next.
Date
• Wednesday 9th September, 2026
• 10:00am - 4:30pm
Location
Ham Green House, near Bristol
Why Come?
A space to reconnect with creative practice
Many disabled, deaf, neurodivergent artists spend huge amounts of time navigating systems, advocating for support, adapting environments or carrying responsibilities that sit around their creative practice rather than inside it.
Where We Land creates space to reconnect with art-making, creative thinking, experimentation and the reasons people began making work in the first place.
Across the day you will encounter keynote talks, artist conversations, workshops, reflective moments, quieter spaces and opportunities to connect with artists from across the South West and beyond. The atmosphere will be welcoming, open and artist-led. Some people may come to meet future collaborators. Others may come to listen, rest, reflect or reconnect with their own creative thinking.
The programme moves between national conversations and South West perspectives, creating space for discussion about artistic ambition, experimentation, visibility and future possibilities for disabled-led practice.
This is a gathering designed not only around access, but around creative energy, exchange and imagination.
Cathy Mager, Founder of Spectroscope
Who can attend?
Where We Land welcomes disabled, deaf and neurodivergent artists, alongside artists living with long term health conditions working in any medium.
The gathering is focused on artists based in:
- Bristol
- Bath & North East Somerset
- North Somerset
- South Gloucestershire
- Gloucestershire
- Wiltshire
- Somerset
- Dorset
- Devon
- Cornwall and Isles of Scilly
Whether you are at the beginning of your practice or have been working professionally for many years, you are warmly welcome.
We welcome disabled people working in arts-related roles such as producers, curators, arts administrators and cultural leaders. We welcome anyone committed to strengthening opportunities for disabled artists and helping creative practice thrive across the region and beyond.
Speakers & Programme
Yiska
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Photo of Yiska. Yiska is pictured seated on a flight of metal stairs. She is wearing beige trousers, a brown velvet polo neck top, large dark hooped earrings. She is a mixed heritage woman with curly hair tied up in a bushy bun above her head. She has a confident direct facial expression. She has holds a walking stick in one hand and is wearing a ring in the other.
Biography
Yiska is the founder of NoteWorthy Access, an expert, lived experience-led accessibility consultancy specialising in events. Yiska is also Co-Chair of Trustees at BDEF (Bristol Disability Equality Forum), a Trainer at Attitude is Everything, and a Disabled artist and established performer with over ten years’ experience.
Emmanuella Morsi
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Photo of Emmanuella Morsi. They is shown smiling broadly in front of a light green backdround. They is a Black african person with braded hair which is tied in two big buns either side of their head. They are wearing hooped gold earrings and a white top.
Biography
Emmanuella Morsi (Studio Morsi) is an award-winning multi-disciplinary artist, researcher and production manager. Nigerian-born and Bristol-raised, they predominantly use research and various mediums to amplify impact and innovate inclusive storytelling around climate, with grassroots and large-scale projects across the world. Most recently awarded 2025 Emerging Innovator, Morsi’s work is renowned for reimagining new ways of working.
Faye Stewart
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Coming Soon
Biography
Faye is Executive Director of Spectroscope. She is a Deaf leader with over 20 years’ experience across communities, culture and public funding. She spent 16 years at Arts Council England across regional and national roles, most recently leading national accessibility work through the Access Changemaker programme and championing adoption of the Social Model of Disability. Her practice bridges communities and systems, shaping more inclusive funding, governance and programmes. She is a Trustee of the Centre for Deaf and Hard of Hearing People in Bristol, sits on Creative UK’s EDI Advisory Group, and is an Independent Member of the Liverpool 2027 Stakeholder Board.
Anica Zeyen
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Photo of Anica Zeyen, a white woman with curly dark blonde hair, sitting on a gold-coloured stool. Anica is slightly leaning forward with her wrists crossed lying on top of her crossed legs. She wars a pinky purple sleeveless buttoned up slightly beyond knee long dress. Her finger nails are pink. Next to her lies her black guide dog waring her high vis yellow harness.
Biography
Anica Zeyen is a blind Professor, author, speaker, and creator working at the intersection of disability, inclusion, and entrepreneurship. Based at Royal Holloway University of London, she researches how disabled people lead, innovate, and navigate systems not built for them – bringing lived experience to everything she does. She has written four books, delivered 100+ talks, and produces documentaries, podcasts, and social media content to bring disability conversations beyond the academy.
Birungi Kawooya
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Photo of Birungi Kawooya. Birungi is pictured with a warm broad smile in front of a bright textured ochre background, she is a black woman with short spiky textured afro hair, she is wearing a golden medalion shaped earring and a bright yellow top.
Biography
Birungi Kawooya is an artist-researcher and creative facilitator whose work explores how creative practice can support reflection, restoration and personal transformation. Working at the intersection of art, wellbeing and cultural inquiry, she designs gentle, sensory-led experiences that invite people to slow down, reconnect with themselves and make meaning through embodied reflection. Her facilitation is known for its warmth, sensitivity and depth—creating spaces where people feel able to arrive as they are. Drawing on materials, ritual and conversation, Birungi’s work centres care, curiosity and collective presence. Most recently, during a residency with Nubian Life Resource Centre in partnership with Imperial Health Charity, she supported Black and Asian elders with complex needs to explore their creativity through a series of artist-led sessions, culminating in a collaborative barkcloth tapestry now installed at Charing Cross Hospital. This work reflects her ongoing interest in how tactile materials, collective reflection and creative practice can foster connection, dignity and belonging.
Alice Bowen Churchill
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Photo of Alice Bowen Churchill. Alice is wearing a blue v necked dress and large gold hooped earrings, she has short brown hair, blue eyes and white skin. She stands in front of a backround of bright multi colured fabrics and banners.
Biography
Alice Bowen-Churchill is an artist and designer based in Bristol, UK, who creates interactive artworks, participatory projects, workshops, and events. She is fascinated by the power of collaboration, creative action and how they can start a conversation. She has been using collaborative stitching to slow us down, bring us together, and transform something small into something lasting. Alice has worked with a wide range of organisations including Oxfam, Wellcome Collection, Spectroscope, Glastonbury Festival, Latitude, Boardmasters and London Fashion Week.
Cathy Mager
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Photo of Cathy. Cathy has blonde shoulder length hair she is wearing a dark blue top, red lipstick. She is white with blue eyes and is smiling. Behind her is a grey backrgound.
Biography
Cathy Mager FRSA is a multi award-winning curator, artist and Artistic Director with over 25 years’ experience creating major public artworks, festivals and cultural programmes experienced by millions of people. A Clore Fellow and founder of Spectroscope, she has led projects for organisations including Southbank Centre, Historic Royal Palaces and Art on the Underground, and has collaborated with Wellcome Collection, Science Gallery and the Museum of Modern Art, Shanghai.
Christopher Laing
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Photo of Christopher Laing shown in black and white, Christopher is smiling broadly, he is a black man with buzz cut black hair. He is wearing a light open neck jumper and wearing a simple chain necklace.
Biography
Christopher Laing is an architectural designer, consultant, Deaf Space expert, founder of Deaf Architecture Front (DAF), and director of Studio Yokwesi Ltd, a Deaf-led design studio. He has worked at Haworth Tompkins for the past nine years and currently works part-time while studying for his Part 3 qualification to become a registered architect. Through his practice, research and advocacy, Christopher champions Deaf-led design, accessibility and inclusion, bringing Deaf perspectives into architecture, culture and the built environment.
Natalie Kane
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Photo of Natalie Kane. Natalie is white with long black wavy hair. with a centre parting They is wearing white framed glasses. They is sitting with one arm on a table, and has an open neck white top and has tatoos on both lower arms. They has a calm, confident and non smiling expression.
Biography
Natalie D Kane is a curator and writer based in London. They are Curator of Digital Design at the V&A, where they research and collect digital design and society, including its preservation, display and access. With the V&A, they curated Design and Disability (June – Feb 2025, opening at V&A Dundee June 2026) and the official U.K. pavilion at the 2019 XXII Milan Triennale, showing the work of Forensic Architecture. Natalie is a Trustee of the British Games Institute / National Videogames Museum. Recently, they have joined the Barbican Renewal’s Access and Inclusive Design Advisory Group. They are editor of Design and Disability (2025), published with the V&A. In other capacities, they are Deputy Leader, Inclusion, Democracy and Culture for Lambeth Council.
Sophia B Wheeling Forward
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Photo of Sophia B. Sophia is a woman with white skin and long black wavy hair. She is wearing a red and blue checked shirt. The photo is taken from behind and she is looking over her shoudler with a slight smile. The background appears to be an evening scene with sunset and street lights visible.
Biography
Sophia B. is an artist, creative practitioner and activist who documents life as a disabled person in London whilst championing access, joy, and community. Through social media, she shares information about accessible events across the city, driven by her belief that disabled people have the right to vibrant social lives and equal opportunities to experience culture and connection. Drawing on her lived experience, Sophia creates video content that encourages people to explore new places and try new experiences. She is deeply committed to improving accessibility not only in everyday spaces but also across the arts, culture, and nightlife sectors. Alongside this, she is passionate about getting disabled artists’ work to reach wider audiences and gain greater visibility. Recently, Sophia co-produced and contributed artwork to the “Oh, how we dance: Disability and Nightlife” installation at the Museum of London Docklands.
Joseph Wilks
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Photo of Joseph. He has short blonde hair with round red rimmed glasses, a short beard, rolled up sleeved white shirt, blue tie and grey waistcoat with coloured pens in the pocket. He is seated in a wheelchair and is in a building with signage, wooden floors and red brick walls.
Biography
Joseph Wilk is an artist and programmer who uses the digital to explore disability and disability to explore the digital. He often works with automative forms of expression that utilize new interfaces to work with alternative bodies. His experience of disability—living with pain, physical limitations, disillusionment and disconnection—strongly impacts his practice. He deconstructs, misuses, and repurposes software and hardware to challenge notions of ownership, narrative, and visibility.
Additional speakers and workshop contributors will be announced over the coming months. This section will be updated regularly with contributor biographies, photographs and programme information as announcements are released. Please check back for updates.
Schedule for the day
Where We Land runs from 10.00am — 4.30pm.
A detailed downloadable programme will be uploaded here soon.
The day will include:
- registration and soft welcome
- keynote conversation
- workshops and creative sessions
- lunch
- afternoon discussions
- quieter rest periods throughout the day
- closing reflections
The programme has been designed to allow visitors to move through the day flexibly and at their own pace.
Workshops and creative sessions
Throughout the day, artists will be invited to take part in a series of workshops, creative sessions and reflective activities.
The programme will include opportunities for:
- conversation and discussion
- sensory and nature-based workshops
- immersive and projection-based experimentation
- quieter reflective activities
- informal creative exchange
Some sessions will take place indoors within the garden room spaces, while others will use the surrounding grounds and gardens of Ham Green House. Workshop details and contributors will be added over the coming months.
Food, Rest & Quieter Spaces
Lunch will be provided by the Penny Brohn catering team.
Their talented chefs create fresh, handmade, seasonal meals designed to be healthy, nourishing and full of flavour. The menus are unique to Penny Brohn UK and reflect the belief that food which supports wellbeing and immune health can also be genuinely delicious.
Throughout the day there will be a quiet sensory breakout space available for rest, downtime or quieter conversation away from the main programme.
Visitors are welcome to move in and out of sessions as needed and use the event in the way that works best for them.
The gardens at Ham Green House will also be available throughout the day for reflection, rest and quieter conversations, with the majority of outdoor spaces accessible for wheelchair users.
Where We Land has been designed with the understanding that people experience events differently, and that rest, pause and flexibility are an important part of participation.
Access information
- Wheelchair accessible
- BSL interpretation
- BSL Interpreters are Freya Mcluckie, Karen Huntley.
- Live Captions are available for talks and panels..
- Assistance dogs welcome
- Quiet sensory breakout space
- Visual description integrated into talks
- Accessible gardens
There is level access to dining rooms, bedrooms and communal spaces used during the event. Two of the workshops are reached by a ramp.
The venue includes:
- Ample accessible parking close to the entrance
- Two wheelchair accessible bathrooms close to event spaces
- Accessible pathways through the majority of the gardens
- HEPA Air Purifiers installed in event spaces
Getting here
Ham Green House is located close to J19 of the M5 and a few miles from Bristol city centre.
Address
Ham Green House, Pill, Bristol
Postcode: BS20 0HH
What Three Words
Marked.curve.penny
Bus: If you are travelling by public transport, you can catch the X4 bus to Pill and get off at The Anchor stop. From there, it is approximately a ten minute walk to the venue, which is signposted.
Train: Nearest train stations are Bristol Temple Meads (20 mins in taxi) and Bristol Parkway (25 mins in taxi)
Car: Nearest train stations are Bristol Temple Meads and Bristol Parkway.
Ham Green House
Set within four acres of beautifully designed gardens just outside Bristol, the Grade II listed Georgian mansion of Ham Green House offers a calm and reflective environment for the gathering. The venue includes peaceful outdoor spaces, accessible garden pathways and light-filled meeting rooms that open onto the surrounding landscape.
For Where We Land, the setting forms part of the experience – creating space to slow down, think differently, reconnect with creative practice and spend time with others in a more thoughtful environment. Spectroscope has an ongoing relationship with the venue and has previously created a beautiful gingko tree projection across the Georgian mansion and fountain.
Dating from the early eighteenth century, Ham Green House has a rich and unusual history. The house was once owned by the Bright family of Bristol philanthropists and was the childhood home of Richard Bright, an English physician and early pioneer in the research of kidney disease. Later, the estate was purchased by Bristol Corporation and developed as an isolation hospital supporting people through infectious illnesses. That connection to care, wellbeing and recovery continues today through the pioneering work of Penny Brohn UK.
Travel Bursary Support
A limited number of £75 travel bursaries are available to support artists travelling to the event. Bursaries will be offered on a first come, first served basis and will be prioritised for artists on low incomes or those who may otherwise be unable to attend due to travel costs. If travel costs may prevent you from attending, please get in touch to discuss support options.
Do you need to rest?
We have a limited number of subsidised accommodation spaces available on a first come, first served basis, including wheelchair accessible rooms. If you experience fatigue, fluctuating energy or long term health conditions, please get in touch to discuss accommodation or rest support.
Can’t attend in person?
We understand that not everyone will be able to attend the event in person. Following the gathering, we will create a post-event package for artists who are unable to attend on the day. This will include selected recordings, discussion highlights, workshop materials and event reflections. Information about how to request the package will be added here closer to the event.
Supported by
Where We Land has been made possible with funding from Arts Council England.
