Describing herself as a queercrip/disabled artist, Riana’s collaborative, expansive practice has, as her nomination said, “created significant, disability-led and proud spaces for empowerment, self-expression and intercommunity solidarity.”

Her choreographic and video projects include Inspocam; which “explores the choreography and consumption of Inspiration Porn, interrogating our tendency to objectify others in the quest for our own personal gratification, and questioning when and under what circumstances this might be ok.” And Animate Loading – a site-responsive work where “performers draw on their diverse movement languages and embodied experiences to activate a space, bringing its seen and unseen dimensions into focus.”

Beyond the gallery space; Riana’s event project Crip Rave Theory is “a club night outside the club that draws on disabled/crip knowledge to create more intersectionally-accessible party spaces.”

Speaking with FBi’s Race Matters about the creation of Crip Rave Theory, Riana said: “I’d been dreaming of a place like this for a while. (Learning to DJ during lockdown) reignited my wish to be in club and party spaces – which is something I hadn’t done much of for a long time because the experiences I’d had when I was younger were just so… not great.

“It was just blatantly obvious to me that nobody was expecting me to be there. It was a shock for them. In terms of the architecture, and socially, it just wasn’t set up as a place where I could have a good time and feel equally welcomed.

“I wanted to create a space where people aren’t just able to get through the door physically, but feel welcome and they’ve been thought about in the planning and are actually wanted in the space.”

Riana’s drew on her own personal experiences of going out to create an event grounded in access for all.

“There can be a wheelchair ramp to make a space technically accessible, but that doesn’t mean you’re being genuinely welcomed. People aren’t going to come unless they feel the genuineness of the care and the groundedness in community.

“I didn’t want to create another space that was siloing off disabled folks, I wanted to create a space where all bodies were welcomed and celebrated, and put forward a greater understanding that access isn’t just about disability – we all have access needs whether we’re aware of them or not. I feel like everyone who was there was showing up for each other as well as themselves.”

Riana draws on her legal training for her advocacy work and activism, aimed at increasing artistic opportunities and fostering connection between traditionally sidelined and marginalised artists.

“Disability justice is about centering our intersectionality, leading to the creation of a world where everyone, regardless of how they’re shaped in all our intricacies, is welcomed. It’s also about fostering cross-movement solidarity and interdependence. Facilitating access [can] be an ongoing, caring, loving piece of work, not an inconvenience or annoying afterthought.

“Often, what can be most helpful to people is just more information. Organisers can get nervous – ‘I’m not sure how people are going to take this?’ – and so they often try to pre-empt or proclaim what will or won’t be accessible for people. [But] a person is going to know their own access needs better than you can ever could; people just need as much information as possible and tools to make their own decisions.”

Riana was also commissioned for the 2020 Keir Choreographic Award to create Very Excellent Disabled Dancing, which speaks to the distinct differences in the way dance is consumed and understood when performed by people with disability.

“I never went to art school – I went to law school – so I never felt restricted in terms of what artforms are open to me when I started practicing. As a wheelchair user, especially working in choreography and movement, when I come into a class or to perform, it’s very unlikely there’ll be someone else in the room with a movement language close to mine.

“That comes with many complexities, but it’s also a freeing thing – I just work in the ways that I have to, and want to. In my work and group projects I try to make spaces where there are no preconceptions about the way we should work, or if there are, they’re not rigid. They’re responsive to the people, and the people are at the core.”

Riana Head-Toussaint: Website