The strings to Katherine Araniello's bow will not stop multiplying: film maker, composer, editor, designer, performer and now video artist with an MA (first class) from Goldsmith's College of Art. Always experimenting and pushing boundaries, she is bent on making us laugh too.

Congratulations on you final MA show in Fine Art from Goldsmiths, what’s next?
For me the next big event is the Disability Film Festival and I’ve got some films ready for that. I am also meant to edit a film for Aaron Williamson and to appear as Jesus Christ in one of Aaron’s films, The Staircase Miracles. I still intend to make and get films shown at festivals and art galleries.

What brought you into Disability Arts?
(laughs) Because I’m disabled! In my twenties, I remember going on the disability art cabaret circuit watching people like Allan Sutherland, Barbara Lisiki and Johnny Crecendo. It was then that I decided to become actively involved, rather than sit there and be a bit critical of other disabled artists performing. So, I formed a group called Plastic Anorexic and did that circuit for a bit. I then decided to go to Art College. I did my BA and graduated in 1999 with a First. I started my MA two years ago and became involved with video.

Being a mover and a shaker in the disability arts movement, how do you feel that the scene has changed over last ten years?
The standards are definitely improving. It’s more professional now. Say, the disability film festival. There’s a wide spectrum of people out there, internationally as well, who are submitting work and I think that is really good.

When I see mainstream stuff, say, from the BBC. I don’t find them particularly challenging. Maybe challenging for the general public but not challenging for me as an individual. Every Time You Look at Me is an example. For me the storyline was poor and there was too much emphasis on the characters’ physicality. The overall pace was also very slow, and didn’t coincide with the upbeat tone it attempted to pump out.

But it’s great to see disabled actors in mainstream television. I still feel there is a long way to go before I can watch and be inspired, rather than feel embarrassed. I appreciate it’s tricky to get it right, but it’s not impossible. Hand over a decent budget and I’ll do it! Most progressive work comes from independent filmmakers who don’t have to work within a consensus.

What do you like or dislike about disability arts?
I don’t like the idea of ghettoisation, but it’s a difficult question to answer because some disabled artists will argue that their work isn’t being shown because they are disabled and the galleries aren’t interested in disability arts. My argument would be that maybe the work isn’t being shown because it isn’t good enough. It’s a process.

Most artists, regardless of whether they are disabled or not, get their work shown in galleries because they’ve been through the process of going to Art College. I sincerely believe that if I can do it, most artists can. I am physically disabled, not just a little bit. A lot. And my schooling was from special schools that are renowned for not educating their kids. I do like the Nasty Girls. They are really up my street.

I like the idea of art made by disabled people, of course I do. I like art made by anybody, but what is disability art? (laughs) Is that terminology itself pigeon-holing the work? Is it saying that this work is only about disability and for other disabled people and interested parties in disability-related issues? Should we be using that term in the first place? I don’t go round calling myself a disabled artist in the same way that I don’t go round saying I’m a gay artist or a woman artist. I am an artist, full stop.

Your work seems to explore the physicality of yourself and others. Why?
In Jennifer (a short film about an able-bodied woman taking a trip to a duck pond in her wheelchair), I’m playing with that really stereotypical assumption that if you are disabled, you are not going to do much else but feed the f***ing ducks! It is really pathetic and silly, and I find it amusing! Jennifer really loves the wheelchair. The video challenges the idea that becoming disabled and having to use a wheelchair is the worst thing that can happen to a person. The gossip is that Charles Saatchi and Nigella Lawson spent rather a long time looking at Jennifer, I hope it didn’t disturb them too much!

Apart from video, do you work in other art forms?
I’ve done performance. I used to draw and paint, but I found it frustrating because it is difficult for me to move my arms. The move forward for me is to do something that is more of a video installation with more than one screen. I think it would give my work a different dimension.

What about performing with Plastic Anorexic again?
It’s there to re-launch at some point. When I do, I will definitely use my editing skills and make it into a multimedia performance.

To what extent is your work informed by sexual politics or by politics?

Hmm. I think my pop video I Like That (2004) is informed by what exists. The pop industry is so all sexed up. So body aesthetics and glamour-orientated. That’s why I’ve got Audrey (a glam, armless, anorexic-looking mannequin used in the video) flashing her tits and me looking quite gross. There’s a contrast there because I’m not going to try to aspire to be Britney Spears or Madonna. I’m not either of those people. I wanted to create something original, different and individual.

Tell me about editing the video for Lyn Levett

Lyn is a professional dancer and has successfully used her own physicality to perform and choreograph her own contemporary dance. She presented me with an excellent soundtrack and all the footage and the thought behind it was to integrate her unique, natural movements with the sound, to enhance and accentuate them and I think they work together in absolute, bloody harmony. There’s so much energy. And that’s all her, you know. There’s no way that anyone can watch this video and feel sad.

Is it your duty to make your work accessible to people with impairments?

No, it’s not. If it isn’t accessible to someone, it is their duty to make sure that they contact me to make it accessible. But I think it is important that my work is shown in spaces that are accessible. Imagine the irony if a piece of work featuring physicality and disability is shown in an inaccessible space.
The pop video, which won Goldsmith’s College Warden’s Purchase Award, has managed to reach all levels and not just an elite level. And that is important to me. I think I’m a pretty accessible kind of person.

Are you a punk?

No. I’m just me. I tend to not go with any sub-culture. I dress as I want. I look how I feel comfortable. But I have been accused of being a punk in the past.