Syracuse University School of Education’s Ganders Lecture Series and Center on Disability and Inclusion, along with Syracuse University Art Museum and College of Visual and Performing Arts, welcomes Colombian-American artist and Wynn Newhouse Award recipient Francisco echo Eraso to campus for a two-day artistic residency, which will include a talk and community workshop.
On April 16, 2026, Eraso will present “Eco-Crip: Exploring the Intersections of Disability Identity and the Environment Through Artistic Practice,” an experimental lecture on the intersections of disabled identity and ecological crisis. The lecture takes place in the Shaffer Art Building’s Shemin Auditorium. A welcome reception begins at 5 p.m., and the presentation starts at 6:30 p.m.
During his talk, Eraso will discuss his art practices alongside the work of contemporary disabled artists to illuminate disability as a crucial source of wisdom and leadership for the future.
Given increasingly toxic and disabling environments across the globe, disability is simultaneously deemed “unnatural” and therefore disposable and to be eradicated, explains Eraso.
Through an “Eco-crip” framework, Eraso will challenge the idea that disability is a pathological deficit. Instead, by challenging binaries of natural/unnatural and normal/abnormal, disability will be presented as part of human diversity and as a cultural and political identity.
Then, on April 17, the Syracuse community is invited to join Eraso for a community workshop on stimming and craft practices, from noon to 2 p.m. in the Shaffer Art Building.
“Together we will learn how sensory processes like making textile and fiber-based crafts can serve to connect to access practices like stimming, and to the communities, ecologies, and environments we are a part of,” says Eraso. “Come ready to make your own take-home stim toy and contribute to a collective community project!”
An interdisciplinary artist who used textiles, ceramics, sculpture, and sound to engage topics of liberation theology, family, and revolution, Eraso (he/él) works as an accessibility consultant, independent curator, youth minister, and part-time lecturer at Rutgers University; Parsons School of Design, The New School; and Middlesex Community College.
He has keynoted at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (2025); received the Syracuse University Wynn Newhouse Award (2024); received the LEAD award from the Kennedy Center (2023); and served as the call-to-action speaker for the Art-Reach Conference on Arts, Culture, and Disability (2023). He also has served as artist-in-residence at Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts’ SHIFT Residency for Arts Workers (2022-2023) and FABSCRAP (2022-2023).
“Eco-Crip: Exploring the Intersections of Disability Identity and the Environment Through Artistic Practice” is part of the Syracuse Symposium series, presented by the Center on Disability and Inclusion and Syracuse University Art Museum and co-sponsored by the College of Visual and Performing Arts’ Visiting Artists Lecture Series and the School of Education’s Ganders Lecture Series.