Lionel Migrino, 31, wants his exhibit to empower those within the disability community and teach others about the lives, stories and resilience of those living with disabilities
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By day, Lionel Migrino works in human resources.
But much of the past decade of the 31-year-old’s spare time has gone toward advocacy work for the disability community, he said, after his cousin, who works in social services, introduced him to people within the community.
“I fell in love with it,” he said.
The longer he worked within the community, combined with his experience of living with cerebral palsy, he came to realize that “the world is not made for people like me.”
Society, he said, tends to “overlook people with disabilities and think that they are limited.”
“But by learning about their stories and their resiliency, we recognize that there’s limitless potential for them,” he said. “We need to give them opportunities and ensure that we are inclusive and accessible, and making sure that disabled people belong in everyday life.”
His upcoming photo exhibit titled Limitless: The Disabled World, which opens to the public Friday evening, Oct. 25, aims to do just that.
Hosted at the cSPACE Marda Loop Gallery and running until Nov. 8, the exhibit will showcase stories about lives and experiences of people within the community whom Migrino has met during his time in advocacy.
The exhibit, Migrino said, is meant to “empower” those within the disability community and showcase their “humanity.”
“I was also being mindful and careful, because I know that disability works in North America is whitewashed,” he said. “I know there’s a need to consider other identities within the disability community and (showcase) it in that intersectional lens.”
His work, he said, highlights people with a wide range of identities and disabilities to ensure that those who view the exhibit come away with a fuller understanding of the issues.
Migrino is no newcomer to the photography and art scene. In 2021, he and fellow artist Harvey Nichol showcased a series featuring the lives and achievements of Filipino-Canadians in Calgary.
In 2019, he, along with 23 other photographers, displayed photographs capturing the lives of Filipino migrants in a local exhibit funded by the province’s Culture and Tourism Ministry.
Photography, Migrino said, “has always been part of my storytelling,” beginning as a hobby during university.
“I saw a couple of friends that did photography for fun,” he said. “I was interested and in awe about how they interacted with the camera and how they used that to interact with the world. So I bought a camera and started doing it every week with a group of people. At some point, it became more than a hobby for me.”
His work, he said, usually features themes of mental health and anti-racism. “I’ve always had a fascination for photography but I also have a passion for advocacy. So when I put them together, it’s magic.”
It wasn’t difficult finding people who would feature in his exhibit — the challenges lay in where to shoot their photos.
“Most of the studios in Calgary aren’t accessible,” he said. “So we had to be creative.”
One of the accessible locations used for the photo shoots was the public library, Migrino said.
“Calgary has got a long way to go with (creating more) accessible places,” he said. “And we just need a desire for it, since we already have the technology and the resources for it. We just need people who have that mindset of commitment, to want to do it and not wait.”
This event, he said, has been organized to be as accessible as possible, while recognizing that it cannot be 100 per cent responsive to everyone’s needs due to certain barriers.
“Lionel has done an incredible job of selecting a space that is as physically accessible as possible,” said Hayley Rushford, event organizer.
“There has been a lot of thought and intention put into it, not only for those in the disability community who might be in attendance but also for people who are not a part of the community, to say, ‘oh, I would have never thought to do that,’ and take that away and ask themselves, ‘how can I be more thoughtful moving forward?”