Academic Commons News

Stop by Scott Memorial Library, on the Thomas Jefferson Univeristy — Center City Campus, to explore our latest art exhibit, created by Wendy Elliott-Vandivier, cartoonist and disability advocate.

The exhibit highlights examples of Wendy's cartoons, which focus on disability awareness and microaggressions that disabled people experience as they try to live their ordinary, "un-inspirational" lives. Wendy's artwork will be displayed on Scott's 2nd floor until the end of December 2024.    

Wendy Elliott-Vandivier is a graduate of Tyler School of Art, Temple University. She has been making art and mischief since she was a young child, growing up in Philadelphia. In college, she majored in sculpture and staged a funeral of a disabled poster child to lay stereotypes of pity and helplessness firmly to rest. Her paintings explore issues of family, memory, and experiences as a disabled woman.

Her autobiographical cartoons focus on attitudinal barriers and stereotypes regarding disabilities and some of the micro-aggressions that disabled people experience while living normal, un-inspirational lives.  She is also a photographer of micro-scale monuments in nature and is often inspired by close-up images that people often do not notice in daily life – tree bark, dead leaves, flower anatomy, and water.