‘We may perhaps say that every child at play behaves like a writer, by creating a world of his own or, to put it more correctly, by imposing a new and more pleasing order on the things that make up his world’ (Freud, 2003)
OUT OF SYNC dives into the world of Neurodiversity and specifically focusses on Sensory Processing Disorder.
Around one in 20 children will have a degree of sensory processing difficulty however, because each individual’s brain is unique, symptoms can vary dramatically, making it hard to diagnose.
SPD can also present alongside other neurological conditions such as Autism, Aspergers or ADHD and affects children’s ability in all areas of their cognitive, emotional and academic development.
This work is the visual communication of the struggles my daughter, Clemmie, has with sensory input and the disconnect she feels with the world. When she is feeling overwhelm she turns to the realm of imagination as a strategy to reorganise the overload of information in her brain.
A series of Photographs of deserted play areas that Clemmie has constructed provide a view into her imagination and convey the ideas of ‘home’ as a place of safety where fantasy takes over. Despite fear and anxiety existing in her world her response is one of creativity and artwork. Foucault purports that fear is a passion but also the cause of temporary madness, however, it is madness that inspires works of art. He writes “The possibility of madness is therefore implicit in the very phenomenon of passion.” (Foucault & Howard, 2006)
This project makes an enquiry into the ethics of representing the neurodiverse community and challenges the way society and in particular, the medical world view neurodiverse children as a problem that require a cure by the numbing, medicating or removing triggers.
A short documentary film brings together all the elements of Clemmie’s various sensory issues in the hope that it will not only highlight the impact of overload but steps away from the stigma attached to psychiatric terms like Disorder and Dysfunction and rather produces a visual explanation and a celebration of the inner workings of the unique brain of the neurodiverse child.
