This practice PhD will look at new insight into artistic methodology through the lens of autistic stimming, a self-regulating mechanism. The act of stimming is often the only way autistic people can exist or function in the world (Charlton et al. 2020; Kapp et al., 2019), yet it is often vilified by professionals/society as a behaviour that affects autistic people in negative ways and must be prevented (Boyd et al. 2012). During art-making, stimming provides a quilting point between an autistic person and their body. The margins of what constitutes imaginative creative practice is varied and wide, yet there is a knowledge gap in the understanding of how the qualities of autistic and neurodivergent people, and the emotional and sensory chaos that is associated with their experience can be positively employed and harnessed into productive creativity within Visual Arts. This research identifies a contribution to knowledge from an autistic perspective. To explore the qualitative dimension of stimming, a new body of work will be produced, testing it through public facing and interactive processes of exhibitions and screenings. Through collaborative practice in workshops and events at NTU and other research methods, a thorough literature review will be explored. Case studies on other autistic artists who use stimming in their practice will highlight how stimming opens up a wealth of creative possibilities. Additionally a toolkit will be produced offering interactive resources for new insights into artistic methods/methodologies and for good practice for arts organisations working with autistic/neurodivergent artists.

Interaction

Sailing on stars

Clouds pouring out gold dust

And the fire in the sky

Speckled

And the fire in the sky

Speckled

And hecklers sounding like stardust

And rhyming words

Repeated words

And rhyming words repeated words

And paths

And paths that follow us closely and quickly and that turn us around

And paths

And paths that follow us closely and quickly and that turn us around

And paths

That dance

Echoed stars

High up trees and high up sky

Help us to remember help us help us to remember

Help us help us to remember

Where the earth goes

Where we lie in wet ground

And wet soil

And earth

Where the earth goes

Where the rain lands

Where we lie in wet ground

Without a sound

And earth

Where the earth goes

And we lie in thick grass

And we hide

And we sing… oh we sing, and we sing.

er, . August 2023

Home

Visual expressions of autistic stimming in this video

More stimming texts

Documentary photographer Rosie Barnes discusses her portrait series No You’re Not -

A portrait of Autistic Women which features in the Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize 2022, on display at the Portrait from Saturday June 17. Rosie is joined by artist and researcher Elinor Rowlands, founder of Magical Women, an arts platform, created to an AuADHD-led (Autistic/ADHD) model for AuADHD women and non-binary artists to show and share their art in spaces that remove the risk found in neurotypical situations and where access is at the heart of all processes. Elinor is also one of the participants/subjects of the No You’re Not series.

Taylor Wessing | Rosie Barnes and Elinor Rowlands: Women and Autism

The video Elinor shared in the talk above is shown below. When watching and in need of captions please click on "English - United Kingdowm" instead of English automated.

Tip

Tip

Taylor Wessing | Rosie Barnes and Elinor Rowlands: Women and Autism