Art as activism: the physically impaired students at cyrene mission navigating the crossroads of African and western culture through fine arts, c.1930 to c.1960

This qualitative study employs Critical Disability Theory (CDT) to examine the role of fine arts in disability activism at Cyrene Mission in Southern Rhodesia from c.1930 to c.1960. The research interrogates archival sources, oral traditions, and secondary texts, and engages with critical art analysis to explain the use of handicrafts in activism. It examines the efficacy of fine arts in challenging societal norms and in advocating for inclusion and representation. The paper argues that the production of handicrafts by students with physical impairments at Cyrene Mission functioned as a form of disability activism. Through disability activism, students contested colonial and ableist norms, asserted social agency, and negotiated power, identity, and justice. The crafts reflected the lived realities of a social group seeking sanctuary within the two competing worlds of African tradition and European culture. By focusing on disability, creativity, and activism the article contributes to debates in colonial historiography on art, impairment, and activism.