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‘The lady without legs or arms’: how an artist shattered Victorian ideas about disability | Painting
She was born with out arms and legs to a farming family members in 1784 and, measuring just 37 inches in top as an adult, was put on present in touring fairground attractions. Billed as The Limbless Wonder, Sarah Biffin painted, wrote and sewed with her mouth and shoulder, along with prize fighters, wild animals and other sideshow “curiosities” that drew paying out spectators. But she overcame life’s adversities, discovering recognition for her superb talent as a painter in an age when the artistry of gals and disabled individuals was typically disregarded. Now a important exhibition will rejoice her as an inspiring woman who not only challenged attitudes to incapacity…