Daniel takes a quick detour in Minneapolis and invites influencer and educator SAMU, musician Gabriel "Freaque" Rodreick, and photographer Trista McGovern to discuss their art and advocacy practices. They explore how they merge the two, face ableism online, navigate grieving capacities, and how intersectionality manifests in their practices.
Video Podcast Version
Chapters
- Show Open (00:00)
- Introductions (00:16)
- Self-Descriptions (01:18)
- Trista on Art Practices & Intersectionality (02:40)
- Response from Able-Bodied Audiences (05:09)
- SAMU on Attitudes Towards Disabled Art & Ableism Online (07:17)
- Gabriel on Touring & Building His Music Career (11:04)
- Inaccessible Opportunities & Accessible Venues (12:22)
- Changing Course & Moving Forward (14:18)
- Crip Elders, Mentors, Art & Activism (17:39)
- Activist Burnout & the Disability Community (20:24)
- Compounding Identities, Being an Educator & Sharing Your Platform (25:15)
- Closing Remarks & Credits (29:24)
Guest Bio's
Trista Marie McGovern (Minneapolis)
I am a queer disabled photographer, writer, model, and interdisciplinary artist. My work is fueled by exploring human story and personal identity.
I am an advocate for disability issues and ableism awareness through personal and collaborative projects, with a strong focus on sexuality. I am driven by social justice values and involvement including environmental, racial, disability, and transformative justice and police abolition.
My work in intimate portraits as a photographer focuses on breaking down barriers to illuminate vulnerability and individual personalities.
My driving force for making and intent of my artwork and advocacy practice is to cultivate joy and foster connectedness with each other and within ourselves.
- Webpage
- Facebook
- Instagram
- TikTok
- Linktree
SAMU (Minneapolis)
A deaf/blind hispanic Tiktoker and social media advocate, SAMU has a massive following 1 million followers on Tiktok and 60k on Instagram. They frequently use their platform to boost causes' traction, educate able bodied audiences on the effects of policy, and strengthen the disabled community on social media.
- Facebook: @samerubii
- Instagram: @samerubii
- TikTok: @samerubi
Gabriel "Freaque" Rodreick (Minneapolis)
Freaque is for the derelicts, the heretics, the tree stumps, and those who live on the fringes of society. A tattered voice, made of strung out words, hung to dry over broken chords on his mother’s piano. “Decompose" was created in his childhood dining room, on the piano he played for 11 years before a spinal cord injury took away his hands. In a wooden womb of darkness, he took what he had and rose above a society that constantly tells us we are not enough, that we’re only worth the possessions we own, the money in our bank accounts, and our body's abilities. We do not have to conform to societal standards to be valued as human beings. That is why he creates music and art.
His music is used as the soundtrack for A Cripple’s Dance. It ranges from stripped down blues and dirt-folk off of his EP “Decompose", to groovy, swampy, singles like “How Are You Not Freaking Out” and “Patience”. He touches on subjects of sexuality, grief, anger, climate change, political and corporate corruption, and uses them to weave a story about life with a Spinal Cord Injury.
- Webpage
- Facebook
- Instagram
- Linktree
Check out Crip Trip highlights and the video podcast episodes on YouTube!
Watch the full series on AMI-tv and AMI+ and follow Crip Trip on Instagram
More about the Crip Trip Disability Podcast
Hosted by quadruple amputee filmmaker Daniel Ennett and his longtime collaborator Frederick Kroetsch, Crip Trip is a candid, irreverent, and insightful podcast where disabled artists share their struggles and triumphs in the art industry. From inaccessible workplaces to the fight for authentic representation, Daniel and Frederick dive deep into the challenges disabled creatives face while keeping the conversation lively with their signature humor and punk-rock energy. Each episode features participants from Crip Trip, offering raw, unfiltered stories about surviving—and thriving—in a world that still has a long way to go.
Host Bio's:
Daniel Ennett
Daniel Ennett is a filmmaker, artist, and advocate from Amiskwacîwâskahikan
(ᐊᒥᐢᑿᒌᐚᐢᑲᐦᐃᑲᐣ, so-called Edmonton). Daniel hosted 3 seasons of the web-series Invincible, and the short film Beneath the Surface. Both of those projects follow his adventures as an above elbow/knee quadruple amputee where he tried various adaptive sports like skiing, skydiving, and scuba diving with sharks.
He did all of this in collaboration with his friend Frederick Kroetsch. Together they worked on a 35mm art film, Form and Func7on, as well as a short film Lim(b)itless, where he participated in body suspension. Working with Catapult Pictures, he’s created a series of pitches while he finished his honours degree in psychology. As a sophomore filmmaker he recently made Flesh Ballet, a visual commentary on ableism. From 2022-2023 Daniel worked as a co-director on CBC’s TV-series Push. He maintains a thriving painting/photography practice. His work currently focuses on bringing light to Disabled experiences.
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/daniel.a.ennett
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p.paradox/
Frederick Kroetsch
Frederick first met Daniel Ennett in 2013 when trying to find a web-series to produce. When their show Invincible was greenlit, Frederick left the world of broadcast journalism to move fulltime into documentary TV production. The two of them have been making projects that challenge society’s views on disability ever since.
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/frederick.kroetsch
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/frederick_kroetsch
- TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@frederickkroetsch
About AMI
AMI is a media company that entertains, informs and empowers Canadians with disabilities through three broadcast services — AMI-tv and AMI-audio in English and AMI-télé in French — and streaming platform AMI+. Our vision is to establish AMI as a leader in the offering of accessible content, providing a voice for Canadians with disabilities through authentic storytelling, representation and positive portrayal. To learn more visit AMI.ca and AMItele.ca.
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