Image Description: A white transmasculine person with brown curly hair, a cropped beard, and moustache stands in front of a blurred landscape. They are wearing pink glasses, olive overalls, and a multi-coloured paisley shirt.
Magnus Berg (they/he) is a transmasculine/agender, queer, autistic person with invisible sensory, neurological, and physical disabilities. They are a digital scholarship librarian, a reformed filmmaker, and a hobbyist photographer and collage artist. They conduct research on the ways that trans/gender diverse labour is exploited by libraries and the ways that copyright hampers media and software preservation. They reside in Tkaronto with their partner and tiny dog. You can usually summon them by mentioning Xerox PARC in casual conversation.
These photos seek to contrast the visible and invisible and reveal the gaps in AODA legislation. As a person with invisible disabilities, including epilepsy, I deal with constant misinformation and a lack of adequate training - even on behalf of ER doctors and first responders - on how to identify and handle a seizure. My mother is both a wheelchair user and frequently has seizures. She faces the same issues around seizure awareness as well as physical barriers, often resulting from a lack of retrofitting and old infrastructure. The intention of these photos is to expose both the dualities and beauty of the visible and invisible disability experience, regardless of the barriers experienced.
A Smart Drive Isn’t Going to Fix This
This photograph features a person with red hair in a wheelchair, seen from behind, facing the bottom of a long flight of concrete stairs in an outdoor urban setting. Gripping the wheels at their side, they wear a black puffy jacket with a hood, and have a navy blue backpack embroidered with red and white flowers hanging off the back of their wheelchair. Up ahead of them, another person climbs the steep staircase, passing a series of boxy industrial air ducts on our right. The stairs and the road beside it, at our left, fill much of the image, and create strong leading lines that guide the viewer’s eye upward. The contrast between the in-focus wheelchair-user in the foreground, set against the out-of-focus, pale grey concrete stairs, establishes the focal point of the image. The backpack’s floral embroidery adds a splash of colour, as do muted red and purple watermarks that tint the image.
My Mind is Electric
This abstract photograph shows a close-up of a person's face, repeated with a kaleidoscopic effect. The face appears at the centre of the image wearing large, dark-framed cats-eye glasses, bejewelled on the upper corners. The subject has light skin tone, a thin moustache and beard, and faces us in a three-quarter pose with tight, full lips, a set jaw, and a raised chin. The subject is partially obscured by swirls and blur effects, and repeated and enlarged elements of their face. This creates a layered, dreamy atmosphere, with warm tones dominated by shades of orange, brown, and hints of yellow. The lighting is soft but dynamic, with highlights and reflections that add to the complexity.