With inclusivity in mind, today’s consciousness to give those from marginalized backgrounds more opportunities, there exists a risk of boxing in these individuals due to their marginalized identity. This dictates what they can achieve and what they cannot achieve, creating more excuses to exclude these individuals from what were initially empowerment efforts. As an example, an artist who is also a woman who frequently receives opportunities due to being a “woman artist” instead of just an artist, may relegate them to speak only of women's issues. This will discourage them from voicing their opinions and views on other topics that are supplementary to women's empowerment, feeding into the patriarchy instead of resisting it. The same can be said of disabled artists whose pieces are expected to reflect on their life experiences around their disabilities. However, one young disabled artist, Diego Berel, is resisting such categorization.
Born and raised in Indonesia to a Javanese father and an East Nusa Tenggara mother, Berel’s abstract reflects on everything from environmental destruction to spirituality and his relationship with religion. His work speaks to universal human experiences, defying the industry-wide tendency to reduce artists from marginalized backgrounds to a singular narrative. This is why his works reflect the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal of Reduced Inequalities.
Berel paints in a contemporary abstract-expressionism style, showcasing an interest in exploring his inner world. He uses bold and visible brushstrokes, working with colours to create blocks of shapes across his canvas. Occasionally, he would create semi-figurative works such as Jeruk Bali, which shows bulbs of pomelos in a visibly 3-dimensional space. Even then, Berel has chosen to depict them as bright red with hints of orange, again showcasing his penchant to explore his own emotions and thoughts even when depicting figurative subjects.
Berel carefully constructs his abstract pieces, ascribing meaning to each stroke and block of colour. For example, his painting If God is Angry may not visually appear to resemble any figures at first, but in his website he writes that it “depicts a person in a cave panicking because there is a fire in front of him with smoke,” giving his audiences more clues to interpret his paintings, asserting his thoughts and emotions not just through his brushstrokes. Because of his rich body of work, his paintings have been auctioned by Sotheby’s Jakarta, and have gone to collectors in Malaysia, Singapore, England, the Netherlands, Germany and the USA.
In a cultural landscape that often reduces marginalized artists to a single narrative, Diego Berel’s work is a vibrant act of defiance. His bold, emotionally charged abstractions—which grapple with spirituality, environmentalism, and the universal human experience—refuse to be confined within the label of 'disabled artist.' Instead, he insists on being seen first and foremost as an artist: one whose voice is complex, whose perspective is expansive and whose contributions enrich the global art conversation on its own terms. By challenging the industry’s tendency to pigeonhole, Berel doesn’t just create art; he champions a more inclusive and equitable understanding of creative value itself—one where identity informs, but never limits, the power of expression.
Find out more about paintings by Diego Berel and his other initiatives by checking his Instagram @diego.berel or website www.diegoberel.com.