Black and white image. San looks up into the camera with a slight smile. They are white with short, light-brown hair and an eyebrow piercing. They wear a black jumper over a shirt, jeans and black boots. San leans on a cane. Photo by Tiu Makkonen.
Sandra is a writer, filmmaker and interdisciplinary artist. She recently completed a four-part series on criticism of D/deaf and disabled arts, 'Quality' and the Marginalised Artist (Disability Arts Online). Sandra is co-editor, with Khairani Barokka and Daniel Sluman, of the anthology Stairs and Whispers: D/deaf and Disabled Poets Write Back (Nine Arches, UK, 2017). She has published widely, including three books of poetry in Toronto. Recent short story commissions include several anthologies from Manchester's Comma Press, and British Council's Discover Project. Sandra's live short story with film, Equivalence, was featured on the big screen/stage at Edinburgh Filmhouse in 2017 and Barbican (Transpose) in 2016.
Besides publishing stories and poetry, Sandra directs short DIY documentaries and experimental poetry films. In 2016-17, she was commissioned to co-create five new short docs and a curated playlist as part of Disability Arts Online's Viewfinder project, in collaboration with Lisa Mattocks and SICK! Festival. She also co-made four short films (three in BSL) with Ania Urbanowska. Sandra curates events, including Scotland's accessible queer and trans arts project, Cachín Cachán Cachunga! Most recently, she has programmed widely-accessible film screenings featuring LGBTQ+ disabled and D/deaf filmmakers and performers at Glasgow Short Film Festival (with Oska Bright's Matthew Hellett), BFI Flare and Edinburgh Filmhouse.
Clips
Disability Arts Online, October 2018 - January 2019: 'Quality' and the Marginalised Artist (four parts, text and audio + BSL video of part 3)
http://disabilityarts.online/projects/disabled-and-deaf-arts-criticism/
The Deaf Poets Society, March 2019: Personal Assistant (text and audio)
https://www.deafpoetssociety.com/sandra-alland-prose-issue-8
Disability Arts Online, June 2017: History into Fiction: From Blind Asylums, to Glasgow Strikes and Riots (including Jujitsu Suffragettes!), to The 1920 Blind March
http://disabilityarts.online/history-into-fiction-from-blind-asylums-to-glasgow-strikes-and-riots-to-the-1920-blind-march/
