Michaela Oteri

Artworks

A woman in a wheelchair wearing a T-shirt saying Digital portrait of a mixed-race Asian-American woman sitting in a power wheelchair with flowers in the background

First image: Michaela Oteri, Self-portrait, 2020. Digital print. Courtesy of the artist.

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Second image: Michaela Oteri, Memorial Portrait of Stacey Park Milbern, May 23, 2020. Digital print. Courtesy of the artist.

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About the Artist

“My passion is for depicting diverse people of all kinds, especially in my Disabled Beauty Series, which showcases Disabled People for Disabled People.”—Michaela Oteri

Michaela Oteri’s graphic works portray the diversity and dignity of disabled people from all backgrounds. Her graceful forms and glorious use of color evoke the balance and sinewy forms of art nouveau, especially the lithographs by Czech artist Alphonse Mucha. Oteri’s carefully composed digital designs use colors and motifs that are meaningful to the sitter. If visible, the sitter’s disabilities are neither hidden nor disguised.

Oteri is self-taught and lives in Florida but has strong ties to the Bay Area disability community. She is currently working on a range of portraits of disabled children in collaboration with Alice Wong from the Disability Visibility Project.