xp_logs | Matt and Megan | Art and Accessibility

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"Boss, can you feel different colours?"

Megan was reorganizing her desk space, having recently returned from a month-long artist residency in Spain. She held a pair of small, framed textile squares - one that she had made, and one from a village in Zaragoza - deciding where to place them.

Pausing his podcast and removing his earbuds, an act that was more performance than required since Matt's enhanced hearing meant that he didn't really need to remove them to hear her clearly. "Excuse me?" he asked, more for time to have a mental reset than a real need for clarification. "Feel...colours." Taking his glasses off, he rubbed the bridge of his nose before replacing them.

"Sorry if that's a weird question. As an artist dependent on a narrow band of frequencies, I sometimes wonder what it would be like to interpret the world in a different way. I just spent a month designing fabric. But without sight, does this particular vibration called 'red' feel distinct?" Megan ran her fingers over the red vines flowers and vines forming a repeating pattern over a white and gold background in one of the textiles. But of course different areas had taken in different amounts of pigment and it wasn't truly two-dimensional, even without counting the embroidered detail.

"Ah," Matt reached out, taking the piece to run his fingers over it lightly, "no. Vibration...I don't have synesthesia. I feel the variation in the embroidery and can make out the pattern, but colour doesn't have any sort of differentiation I can detect. Maybe if I could see and had enhanced vision, things might be different with wavelengths of light, but...not as things are now," and if he could see suddenly, he suspected he wouldn't know how to process the input from his eyes, it had been so long since they'd worked. "It is a nice pattern though."

"Thanks, I made it! I picked up some Spanish, too." Megan was practically glowing with energy. "I feel really inspired after my trip, so thanks for letting me take the month off! I'm thinking of organizing an art show later this year at the mansion, want to come? Or if you have any ideas on how I can make an art show more inclusive and special to mutants, I'm still working on the details."

"Absolutely," Matt agreed, wanting to be supportive. "And art can be inclusive, you just have to get a little creative. Pun intended. Check out the...Moma? Or the Guggenheim? I forget which one, but they have great interactive options for the blind if you call ahead," he hadn't been in years, but it was one of those memories that stuck out because he had been so against going, determined to have a terrible time, then had really, really enjoyed himself and discovered that sometimes, art was pretty damn awesome. "Entonces aprendiste algo de español? Eso significa que podemos usarlo en la oficina?"

"Hablo un poco de español. Practica hablar ... aprende más?" Megan's face scrunched in concentration. "¿Dónde está el museo? Yay, I can finally use that phrase. Ah, I'll check into it. I did not know they had interactive options for the blind, that's brilliant."

"Yeah, they can do a 3D printing of statues that I can touch without damaging the original," which was very cool, "There's other options for paintings and other art mediums, but there's no reason art can't be inclusive. If you want it to be," Matt should suggest a museum date for him and Foggy sometime soon. "For fabric though, I'm more interested in feel and texture over colour, obviously. But that doesn't mean you can't have an aggressive texture on a red bit or a really soft texture for...I dunno, blue. Guess it all depends on what you're looking to accomplish."

"I agree that art should be inclusive, and fashion, too." Megan turned to the other framed square, this one a refreshing green. "That's probably why I enjoy textiles so much - there's that extra dimension of texture. For my thesis project in art & fashion school, I did a project about the colour orange and the 45th president. It was supposed to be a statement, but I'm not sure if it was entirely successful. I don't think I was bold enough." She finished straightening up and tossed a packet of hot sauce that was still in her desk drawer into the bin. "I still don't like the colour orange, though."

"Does anyone like orange?" Matt asked. He didn't quite remember orange, other than it was the name and colour of the fruit. He liked the fruit though. "What did you come up with for your project? Or how would you have changed it?"

"It was too restrictive working with primarily one colour. Although some people got it, many were like, 'oh, weird prison jumpsuits.' I should have focused more on my pro-mutant sentiment, but I was too afraid to out myself as a mutant. I was proud of my 'Nasty Woman' design, though."

Matt suspected that how much people 'got it' had a direct correlation with their voting habits, but he kept that to himself. "Part of me wants to say that you should never be afraid to speak your truth, but if the bar association found out I was a mutant, I would be facing a lot of uphill battles to remain a lawyer," he admitted, "I'm not sure if the issue would that I am a mutant in general or my specific powers. Either way, I can see an avalanche of valid concerns. Regardless, you should be proud of your work, you worked hard on it. And I think no one is ever really satisfied with their final product as an artist. Or as a lawyer writing a brief or deposition or whatever. You just get to the point where you're done and it is what it is."

"Gracias." Megan beamed at her boss' encouraging words. "We should do the art show at District X, for any mutants who want to buy or show their art! It will be like a community safe space." She bounced on her heels. "I know I have loads to catch up on, so maybe in the spring."

"Good idea," he agreed, "Just don't ask me to contribute. My art skills are fairly lacking," he had tried in school. But even with more accessible art options, like pottery, he had no interest. At least with painting he could call it abstract and be done with it.

"Okay, it will be fun! There should be something for everyone, especially if there's wine or cocktails involved. And I definitely will check out interactive options," she added, grabbing a pen and making a couple notes to follow up on later. For now, she needed to focus on some work. And she really did enjoy not having her art be her work.