ABSTRACT
The irony of being brought together by our concern with avoidance is obvious but the relational nature or sense of 'being with' is important to my understanding of this project. This chapter explores the productive although sometimes elusive connections and the benefits of distance and proximity in our work. It draws on these ideas to further examine the problematic nature of disability, avoidance, and the academy, since avoidance by its very nature must always be defeated in its attempt to deny the relationship of one to another. The avoidance of greatest concern to us related to the negation of a place for recognising inaccessibility. Avoidance here resulted in an assertion of 'corporeal deviance' with no space to question the 'cultural rules about what bodies should be or do'. The productive incapacity of the space and the inability to gain access to the gallery signified failure to maintain our collaborative experience.
