We Are Studios was established in 2023 by a community of Artists with disability who believe that disability inclusion can and should start with us.

The first of our kind, We Are Studios is a fully disability-led, inclusive studio that empowers artists with disability to reach their creative potential by creating space to thrive.

Our team have experienced first-hand the barriers people living with disability face in accessing accessible arts education, professional development pathways, and the opportunities needed to build a thriving and sustainable creative practice.

We address these barriers by providing mentorship, networking and professional development opportunities to creatives with disability across Western Sydney and advocating for their inclusion within the contemporary creative arts sector.

Ebony Wightman is an emerging, multidisciplinary artist transitioning from a formal background in illustration and graphic design to a career in contemporary visual arts. Motivated by a thematic exploration of self-acceptance, Ebony’s work reflects on her experience of complex mental and physical health challenges in addition to her lived experience as an Autistic person. Through her work, Ebony advocates for the intersectional rights and identities of autistic and neurodiverse communities and people with disability at large.

Ebony’s work draws on a strong current of social justice, identity politics and personal reflection. Operating in disparate mediums such as sculpture, painting, illustration and ceramics, Ebony’s art practice is heavily driven by the present theme of her work, allowing the opportunity for her ideas to dictate her process and her use of materials.

Emmanuel Asante is a young western Sydney artist from Ghana in West Africa, arriving in Australia in 2015. Emmanuel is highly influence by his culture, Frida Kahlo and his artist-mentor Abdul Abdullah. Self-taught, Emmanuel commenced painting and drawing to deal with depression and personal experiences. He is a recent recipient of the 2019 Youth Achievement Award in Creative Arts, and was featured in the story Behind every number is a student, published in the The Age newspaper.

Grazia Napoletano is an abstract painter whose work uses bright colours to imagery from her everyday life and happy memories. Grazia’s vibrant paintings represent the joy of connection she shares with family and friends and depicts her optimistic perception of everything that sparks joy.

Jane Thatcher is a painter based in western Sydney. Jane’s bold and colourful patterned shapes represent the mindfulness of meditation, her experience with nature and the emotional impact of colour. Jane creates both intimate and immersive artworks, also working in portraiture, figurative and symbolic narratives.

Joseph Barale has been painting for more than 12 years, relying on gestures, layers of texture and tone inspired byimpressionism and expressionism. He is focused on studying and exploring, expanding the direction of where he takes his art.

Kiri Smith is a mixed media artist and mother to two young girls. Her work is a journey of self-exploration in which she seeks to makes sense of her own identity and foster a space in which her psyche can heal from the effects of intergenerational trauma and abuse. Kiri’s artwork often examines themes surrounding physical appearance and body image and how it relates to people’s self-concept and emotions.

Maria Macabentas work is based around sustainable art practice, florals, and free artistic expression. Maria’s flowers came about after trying to develop a pretty design that she could incorporate in her work.

As an extension of her work last year, Maria played with more colour and scale. Instead of canvas, she was encouraged to explore artmaking on cardboard pieces, promoting the principles of being environmentally friendly and sustainable.

The scale of the cardboard was novel to Maria, which allowed her to be more bold and free with her mark-making. She used palette knives, brushes, acrylic and watercolour paints, posca pens and pencils. The colours evoke joy. Her artwork overall shows a progression from doing detailed small works to large ones. This demonstrates her inner journey as an artist from working on details to becoming less focused on the outcome and more enjoying the process of creating.

Miah Tito-Barratt is a multidisciplinary emerging artist who is developing a practice in theater, sound, installation and visual arts. Miah’s practice currently explores the nature of their disabilities and queer identity playing with how different mediums can capture this experience. They have exhibited in multiple spaces including Front Up studios Emerge program, the Artybald exhibition, and a solo exhibit at Meraki Arts Bar. Miah has been on a panel in 2021 and facilitated a workshop in 2023 at the Art Gallery of NSW. They have performed in many productions such as, The Lies We Were Told, Hit Reset, and Teen Angst.

Rebecca Sciroli is a visual artist working in traditional media and non-traditional media such as wearable art and the facilitator of Artist Beyond Frames, south-west Sydney’s first artist with disability led studio. Rebecca’s recurring themes are the body as entangled with identity. The body is also a canvas onto which our personal story is inscribed, altered and sometimes rewritten. Rebecca’s preferred media include copper wire, silicone, glass and traditional drawing media.

Robyn Kemp is an artist working in drawing, painting, sculpture and installation. As an Art Historian, Robyn is interested in studying the development of art in recording history, with a particular focus on medieval art from late 890-1550 A.D., regarding artworks relating to King Arthur, Camelot, the Knights of the Round Table and the disintegration of King Arthur’s Court. Through her research, Robyn strongly believes she has found sufficient evidence in medieval documents and art works to prove there was more to King Arthur than just his legend as a hero.

Robyn is also interested in the comparison of the climate and environment of medieval times with the present destructive forces which are reducing our country into the comparatively polluted, toxic environments we are forced to live in today. Her work acknowledges this destruction which is motivated by greed, corruption and lack of environmental awareness, foresight and planning.

Taylah Devlin started practicing art at the age of 11 by going to local art galleries and learning a variety of mixed medias like drawing, painting, ink work, chalk and oil pastels. She also completed visual arts at high school from year 7-12. Taylah has a passion for drawing and painting especially when it comes to flowers. Taylah enjoys expressing herself and has a passion for painting.

Timothy W. Martin is a western Sydney artist, who started oil painting in 2021 when he joined the disability art group. His art is heavily inspired by Richard Dadd, Vincent Van Gogh, Bob Ross, Martin Handford and Nadia Odlum. He also has a deep love of history and fantasy games such as Dungeons and Dragons.

Timothy makes his landscape painting into interactive stories, by using heavy detailing to hide story elements in the surroundings. In a way this makes his paintings into games. Art has always been part of his life and always something that made him happy. Timothy began practicing as an artist by learning techniques in his late 20s, and for as long as he can remember he’s always been in love with

“In my opinion, the older and more run down – the better. I also have a fascination with historical and abandoned buildings. The idea of them being haunted plays into my love of horror movies and fantasy. I’m very inspired by the art of Monet, Henry Darger, Zdzislaw Beksinski, Bob Ross and recently Bryan Charnley along with fantasy book covers and heavy metal CD cover art. ” – Timothy W. Martin

Virginia Bucknell was born in Sydney, Australia. Virginia’s early paintings are inspired from her years of dance training and professional years as a dancer. In her early years Virginia studied gymnastics and ballet. Virginia is mainly self-taught, but also uses the painting tutorials online to help her learn about painting techniques, paintings materials, mediums and composition structure. In 2007 she studied Fine Arts at Hornsby TAFE. Since the 1980’s to date, she has produced many paintings and continues to develop her style of artwork, selling many paintings along the way through exhibitions, online gallery, commission and private sales.

Virginia creates paintings that when people view them, offers a peaceful feeling, a respite away from the stress of life, calming scenes of the beautiful Australian landscapes, and seascapes of the surrounding areas of greater Sydney and the Blue Mountains. She also works on dance and ballet paintings with lots of soft colours and fluid, floating lines in the pictures. She does portraits on commission basis and contemporary paintings.

Liam Benson is a multi-disciplinary artist, creative workshop facilitator and socially engaged community program manager based on Dharug Country, western Sydney. Incorporating performance, photography, video and textiles, his practice reflects on the exchange within identity and culture as a living dualistic process which is both informed by and challenges historical, political, and social consciousness. Liam’s practice is informed by working collaboratively with community through an ongoing conversation surrounding the ways culture, sub-culture and identity interrelate and evolve.

Liam’s artistic practice aligns with his role as a creative workshop facilitator and manager of socially engaged initiatives, such as the Adorned Collective and We Are Studios. Liam has over a decade of experience in arts education, community engagement and creative workshop facilitation within nationwide cultural and education institutions, and community spaces.

Liam Benson’s works are held in significant public and private collections including The MCA Australia, the Art Gallery of South Australia, Bathurst Regional Art Gallery, Artbank and Western Sydney University.

Linda Brescia is a western Sydney-based artist who investigates the banalities and complexities of everyday life experiences and rituals through painting, photography, sculpture and performance. Her practice explores dynamics around visibility and invisibility, masking, care and self-assertion.

The solo exhibition Linda Brescia: Holding up the Sky was presented at Fairfield City Museum & Gallery (2018–2019), and Brescia’s work has been presented in exhibitions and programs for Artspace, Sydney; Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre; Cementa; King Street Gallery Sydney; MOP, Sydney, Penrith Regional Gallery and Parramatta Artists’ Studios where she is an artist in residence 2021 to 2023 at their Rydalmere studios. Her work has been collected by Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre, Artcell Collection Management, Blacktown City Council, Penrith Regional Gallery and private collectors.

In 2020, Brescia was awarded the Blacktown City Art Prize for her portrait of American patron of the arts Peggy Guggenheim. Brescia has a long history of facilitating workshops and community projects for numerous organisations and groups.