Arts for All Gallery presents LINGUA PHYSICAL: Notes From a Body Challenged, a collaborative photography project by Sheila Swift and Benita Carr.  The exhibition opens at Arts for All Gallery on Tuesday, September 30 and will continue on view through Friday, November 7, 2003.

LINGUA PHYSICAL is based on interviews with a diverse group of women who at some time in their lives experienced a spinal cord injury and found themselves paraplegic or quadriplegic.  In the interviews, the women reveal the ways in which they struggled to come to terms with a dramatic identity shift and how they redefined themselves and their relationships with lovers, children, parents, spouses, and co-workers.  The exhibition consists of photographs of the women and selected excerpts from the interviews.  The project was conceived as a way of fostering a cross-pollination between the disabled and non-disabled communities.

The exhibit is presented by Arts for All Gallery - a program of VSA arts of Georgia dedicated to exhibiting the work of artists of merit who may be disabled or disadvantaged, as well as exhibitions relevant to these communities.  Presented in conjunction with Atlanta Celebrates Photography, an annual city-wide event, the work is supported in part by the Fulton County Arts Council and Meteor Photographic/Atlanta.

Arts for All Gallery hosts an opening reception on Thursday, October 2, 2003, from 5 ? 8 p.m. as part of the monthly First Thursday downtown artswalk.    The closing reception takes place on Thursday, November 6, 2003 from 5 - 8 p.m., also a First Thursday event.  Arts for All Gallery is open Monday ? Friday, 9 a.m. ? 5 p.m.; the gallery and related exhibition events are free and open to the public.  There is an ADA-accessible entrance; large print and Braille exhibition pamphlets, and audio description are also provided.