Spiked shoulder pads, disconnected chaps and exposed leg bones are only a few of the elements Emily Cavender ('24) incorporated into a mannequin to represent the invisible razor-sharp pain caused by her connective tissue disorder, Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome.

Placed at the entrance of the art gallery at the UNT CoLab on the Denton Square, the mannequin greets guests as they enter Invisibly Visible, a community exhibition organized by Cavender featuring art from local creatives with disabilities.

"It's not just this show, but a continuous series," Cavender says. "It's a project to represent the invisible presence of disability in our society and the power of representing it."

While the exhibition runs through Sept. 26, Invisibly Visible is a project that has been years in the making and will keep evolving as Cavender continues to create in her community.

Graduating with an art education degree from the College of Visual Arts and Design in 2024, Cavender hopes to stay in Denton for the foreseeable future and open her own educational nonprofit.

Created with Community

Living in pain for most of her life, Cavender wasn't diagnosed with Ehlers-Danlos until turning 22, but has been using art as an expressive mechanism for as long as she can remember.

When it came time to explore colleges, the San Antonio native set herself on majoring in art education. She quickly fell in love with the program at UNT after moving to Denton in 2018 and finding her place in the artist community.

"People with piercings, colored hair?" Cavender says, recalling her tour. "Sign me up!"

During her time as a UNT student, Cavender completed an undergraduate residency program at the New York Academy of Art in New York City in the summer of 2021 -- a learning experience where she discovered more about herself than art itself.

"I really missed Texas," Cavender says, thinking back to the internship. "There's community here. Texas forces us to be stronger through our legislation."

On top of her major, Cavender graduated with minors in art history and drawing and painting. Before finishing her degree, she began volunteering with the Greater Denton Arts Council in 2023.

A year after receiving her diploma, Cavender opened Ominous Outlooks -- the title of both the exhibition and her chosen artist name -- in May at the Greater Denton Arts Council, and it is on display at Texas Oncology Denton until Nov. 8.

While Invisibly Visible is a collaborative exhibition, Ominous Outlooks focuses solely on Cavender's story and the fiber artwork she creates to physically visualize it.

Seeing the Invisible

The concepts and inspiration behind both Invisibly Visible and Ominous Outlooks came from creations Cavender started making for a research project during her time at UNT.

Imagine a corset with a spine attached, but curved.

"I looked at myself in the mirror and thought, 'This changes everything,'" Cavender says. "There's no way you don't see this janky vertebra running down my back."

This piece inspired Cavender, who could now, in some way, physically visualize her pain. It didn't take long before she was also creating with friends to help them do the same.

With Invisibly Visible, Cavender is opening the door for similar artists in Denton to join in helping her main goal -- increasing disability awareness.

She points back to the welcoming piece in the exhibition. "This mannequin in particular has a binder sewn with a protruding ribcage for my friend who broke a rib in the binding process and suffers from chronic nerve pain."

We're All Artists

Continuing to find new ways to express herself through art, Cavender is providing a platform with Invisibly Visible for others with similar stories.

In her free time, Cavender is working on a children's book series about a leopard gecko.

"It gains its spots from experiences in life, good or bad," Cavender says. "The book is about how our experiences make us beautiful, and I plan to illustrate it with fabric."

With her focus in art education, Cavender says her purpose has always been to use art to make a difference -- what that looks like changes every day.

"In a time where it seems the odds are against us, no matter your ability, we're all artists."