Finnegan Shannon

*Ode to the Sisters Against Disablement (S.A.D.) Code, 2025

Ode to the Sisters Against Disablement (S.A.D.) Code

 
A grid of twelve framed drawings with green borders frames on a white gallery wall. Each contains handwritten text with notes on accessibility, such as “smoking allowed but strictly forbidden on the dance floor” and “seating: Hard and soft. Flexible”
 

  • About:
    A set of drawings inspired by “The SAD Code,” a tool created to help feminist organizers clearly share information about accessibility. It offers ways to describe event details, from transportation and building features like flooring and seating, to amenities such as food and drink, so people can better understand what to expect.

    First published in 1985 by the London-based group Sisters Against Disablement (SAD), this language later appeared in flyers for lesbian events in the early 1990s. Using materials from the Bishopsgate Institute Special Collections and Archives, I made these  drawings to  highlight selected phrases as a way of honoring access intimacy and the poetics of clear language.

    Created as part of I wish gays hung out at places where we could sit down at Gallery 400, University of Illinois, Chicago

  • Year: 2025

  • Size: twelve drawings, each 13 x 16 in framed

  • Materials: Pen on paper 

  • Curated by: Lauren Leving

  • Photo by:  Jonas Mikowsch Müller-Ahlheim