DO I MAKE YOU UNCOMFORTABLE? Solo exhibition at Warwick Art Gallery 13th June to 13th July 2024.
A statement on how society perceives the behaviours of the neurodivergent by creating feelings of discomfort and misapprehension when viewing a collection of insects and creatures.
Elise highlights the vast number of differences in neurodiverse brains and how their eccentricities can be viewed in a negative light. Through her own personal experiences of being neurodivergent she presents commonly ostracised creatures and generates an environment that addresses the stigma surrounding ASD & ADHD.
This body of work explores how the behaviours of the neurodivergent can be perceived as strange and can generate a feeling of discomfort for the neurotypical person and vice versa. To allow neurotypical people to experience the feelings an odd bug can produce and draw parallels between their experience and their feelings towards neurodivergent people. Similar to the way a strange creature can make you feel slightly uncomfortable by their presence and behaviour.
How neurotypical and neurodivergent brains operate and how the differences are not to be feared but celebrated. Neurodivergent idiosyncrasies need to be taken into consideration more often because operating in a world designed for and by neurotypicals is exhausting. Look at a spider or a grub in the garden and observe their habits. They might seem peculiar or eerie but they have a purpose. These different lifeforms live life in a certain way that makes their actions intentional and needed for their wellbeing. Neurodivergent people need this but often lack the ability due to judgement and prejudice from the outside world.
ARTIST BIO
Elise Heather is a Toowoomba based mixed media and textile artist who makes out of her home based studio in Wilsonton. Her works are inspired by nature, the unseen & forgotten and her experiences with ASD (as a neurodivergent person and parent to one). Although being autistic is not all Elise is, it does define a large part of how she interacts and interprets with the world as well as parts of her artistic process.
Elise is a self taught artist who, over the past 10 years, has developed her own techniques of mixing second hand fibres and fabric with other materials to create one of a kind sculptural pieces. Elise is drawn to the details in things, not just the overall. Seeing the little hairs on a spider’s legs or the shimmer of a wing. Finding those details beautiful and interesting. Her techniques have been honed through years of play and multiple different crafts including embroidery, sewing, sculpting, paper mache and painting. She likes to use a variety of new and secondhand materials such as thrifted material and reclaimed paper and card scraps.
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