Neurodivergence Series
Artist Statement:
Many people throughout history, including artists such as Van Gogh and Munch, have suffered from a mental illness or disorder of some kind, meaning they are neurodivergent. Studies have found that many people get their information on mental illness from the mass media, and the mass media tends to be incorrect, inaccurate, and occasionally harmful in the way it portrays neurodivergent people. Those who suffer from mental illness are usually portrayed violent, or violence is attributed to a mental illness, and they are shown to not get better or not be able to cope, as well as typically having visual signifiers to make them look different from all the “normal” people.
In this body of work, I am showing how those myths are inaccurate by portraying individuals who are neurodivergent as they are: ordinary people. Talking to people I both know and don’t know personally, I look into how mental illnesses/disorders can affect a person regardless of typically divisive factors such as race and gender, and how they do not look like what the media shows.
Many people throughout history, including artists such as Van Gogh and Munch, have suffered from a mental illness or disorder of some kind, meaning they are neurodivergent. Studies have found that many people get their information on mental illness from the mass media, and the mass media tends to be incorrect, inaccurate, and occasionally harmful in the way it portrays neurodivergent people. Those who suffer from mental illness are usually portrayed violent, or violence is attributed to a mental illness, and they are shown to not get better or not be able to cope, as well as typically having visual signifiers to make them look different from all the “normal” people.
In this body of work, I am showing how those myths are inaccurate by portraying individuals who are neurodivergent as they are: ordinary people. Talking to people I both know and don’t know personally, I look into how mental illnesses/disorders can affect a person regardless of typically divisive factors such as race and gender, and how they do not look like what the media shows.
