Bio
Washieka Torres is a disability rights scholar, activist, and documentarian, from the South Bronx in New York City. She, is a documentarian, researcher, and public speaker. Her scholarly area
looks at the intersection of food sovereignty and disability. She explores how society culturally and socioeconomically restricts the representation of disabled people to be seen as active food shoppers and food makers rather than passive food consumers. She does this by mapping disabled foodways to look at the ways these barriers shape the food options disabled people have and the choices they make.
Torres' work is also justice-oriented as she works to create a more food-just society by centering the needs and wants of disabled people in solving issues around food access, wellness, and food autonomy. Her current projects focus on disabled cooking methods, meaning, and knowledge translation. She is currently working on creating a food sovereignty guide that helps both disabled and non disabled people navigate the food landscape in each Chicago neighborhood. She has also worked with various mutual aid groups to help connect people to services and needs beyond the nonprofit industrial complex.
Disclaimer: All work represents the views of the INDIVIDUAL ARTISTS & AUTHORS who created them, and are not those of the school or museum of the Art Institute.
