IDENTITY

The following images form part of a series that I am currently working on looking at identity. The SOCIAL NETWORK featured on the INTERNET page forms part of this.

As a visual artist with an acquired disability the concept of “self” is something that interests me hugely. What happens to our identity when we are no longer able to be the person we once were? Similarly, how do we learn to identify ourselves when a developmental disability, such as autism means that our sense of self, and how we perceive our place in the world, becomes affected from a very early age?

 

What does it means to be us, are we the same as we grow up or do we become different people? Is our sense of self, directly related to our ability to be free and uninhibited and if it is, what does that mean for those of us with a disability?

 

Central to my work is the relationship between humans and nature and whether the recent technological advances reflect a disconnect with the “real” which is replaced by a world that is merely simulation, or whether these relationships are equally valid and just a new way of being? Is it possible for the real world and the virtual space to converge to produce a new reality? What is “authentic” and when are we our “authentic” selves?

Fragments (2014) (part of exhibition SELF at Quay Arts 2013) (watercolour paper, cotton, paint, ink, photography, various ephemera)

(actual size 50 x 70 cm a large portion of the piece is not viewable here)

This forms part of the Breakthrough triptych all of which were exhibited at Spice Island Art Trail

Letting Go (2014). Part of the Breakthrough Triptych shown as part of Portsmouth Festivities’ Spice Island Art Trail

Acceptance (2014) Part of the Breakthrough Triptych shown as part of Portsmouth Festivities’ Spice Island Art Trail

Breakthrough Triptych shown at Spice Island Art Trail 2014

The Future is Always Present Reflecting the Past (2013) (wood, transfer, pyrography)

Get in Touch With Yourself (2013)

Hole in my Art (2014) (Fab Fridge (FAB) 2014)

FACES OF CARING EXHIBITION

The Faces of Caring exhibition was held by the charity NETBUDDY, now part of SCOPE , in November 2013. I was asked by the charity to contribute an image to their London exhibition. The exhibition’s aims were to show the reality of caring for a child with a disability. They wanted a carer and a disabled child to be featured.  The image forms part of my Identity series.

Family (2013) (Faces of Caring Exhibition, 2013)

Able (2013)

Questioning disability and ability. What is it to be disabled? This person looks ok but do they

hide a disability? If they are depressed is that a disability? Able explores ideas about the social

model of disability and whether the term “disabled” is valid. It does this by literally shining a light on

the word “ABLE”.

RAGE (2013)

I feel intense rage about my health sometimes. I miss being a free spirit. As I cannot take out

my anger on my wheelchair I used someone to do that for me. This piece makes plain the invisible rage

and anger that can be part of being ill or disabled.