jes sachse: Disability Aesthetics as Agitprop

Toronto-based performance artist and disability activist jes sachse died unexpectedly on May 10, 2025. Their practice fused disability aesthetics with agitprop, challenging institutional complacency and capitalist norms. In 2017, they began the unauthorized performance 'To Be Frank' at the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO), pushing an empty wheelchair around Walker Court to protest inaccessible galleries. They reprised the work in 2023 after curator Wanda Nanibush's departure, adding signs reading 'Gaza Will Be Free' and occupying the atrium weekly until spring 2024. Their 'i need a minute' (2021) gold plaques, distributed to friends and included in 'Undeliverable' at the Robert McLaughlin Gallery, critiqued productivity and funding disparities. jes won a legal battle against eviction from their accessible Toronto home weeks before their death. The article, written by Oyawale, argues that disability aesthetics as agitprop exposes biases around labour and productivity, urging institutional accountability.