.ART

Technology has always played a large role in my life. From sunrise to sunset, I engage with it daily out of necessity due to my physical disability. Instead of seeing it as a simple tool that helps me exist, I started to look into ways I could thrive using it. 

That’s how I found my way into digital art. While I work with various art forms, I’m particularly drawn to looping digital art sculptures that feel like they could exist in the real world as a physical art installation. This article is about my journey into that field while living with spinal muscular atrophy, a genetic condition that significantly limits physical strength and mobility.  

Artist Introduction

A little introduction: My name is Abdullah, but I’m mostly known as ARC online and in art circles. I am from Saudi Arabia. I’ve been doing digital art for a long while, as well as writing articles and guides to help people with disabilities find creative ways to create art regardless of their physical limitations. 

 I’ve always been fascinated by large moving public artwork installations that you can see in streets and museums. The materials used, the shapes, the engineering, it was all so mesmerizing. I constantly brushed off the idea of making my own due to my physical limits. 

Overcoming Physical Barriers with Digital Art

Creating a large sculpture or any large-scale artwork installation requires a lot of physical labor: crafting the piece, going through tests to make sure it looks right and works well. The construction, It’s a whole physical process that is out of reach for most people with physical disabilities, especially those of us with SMA. 

This all changed when I discovered 3D art and software like Blender, where you can craft and model everything you can imagine without physical limits. For people with experience in digital art and 3D in particular, this might sound like a no-brainer, but for my young self, this was a huge revelation. I could actually create and design the things I was imagining without having to construct them physically or sketch them out using a pen and paper.  

The Joy and Freedom of Creating in 3D

With SMA, even holding a pen is a difficult task, but now with 3D software, I can use a very light touchpad and a few other tools like my phone to help me control the software and create whatever I can imagine. 

After discovering this niche section of the digital art world, I’ve created hundreds, if not thousands, of those little mesmerizing looping digital sculptures throughout the years. it was pure joy all throughout.  Of course, my dream is to actually translate these digital art installations into the real world one day. But for now, I am deeply enjoying the freedom digital art gives me, where my physical strength and abilities are not limiting factors.  

My goal with this article is to hopefully encourage everyone with a physical disability to research and discover different art mediums and get creative with finding their own path regardless of the limits they might face.