Lucas Camilo

Lucas started second grade last week! It’s going well so far, and more to come on that.

For now we wanted to make sure that his blog fans know that Lucas is famous(er). An amazing multimedia show opened this last week that features the work of our artist friend Ellery (E.T.) Russian.

Lucas wrote this about going to the opening:

it felt good coming 2 c the movie .
i, i mean we, loved it
grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr8 movie .
i maybye just maybye i will again b come famous

The piece is not exactly a movie as Lucas likes to call it, but it does feature drawings based on photos taken of Lucas at our house, as well as audio of him talking about dinosaurs and being his usual goofy self. The stories of five other people with disabilities are intermingled with the clips of Lucas. It’s called “Casting Shadows; A video comic installation by E.T. Russian” and is playing at the Jack Straw gallery in the university district.

As you can imagine, Lucas likes being “famous.”  He lit up when he heard his voice and saw his picture projected on the wall.  And as his parents, it feels sweet to see our kid portrayed by an artist who has done such a good job of showing that people with disabilities are full, multi-dimensional people beyond and including their disabilities.  So their art balances this full-person portrayal with also being explicit about showing disability — you can see Lucas’s vent tubing and wheel chair, you can hear his unique speech.  And of course you can see that there are lots of other important things to know about him (read: dinosaurs), too.

The show is up for the next two months — Lucas says we should invite all our friends.  So if you’re in Seattle, check it out!