Thursday 7 July 2011

Artist know your subject!

The way I see it there are two kinds of Autism Art. The first is Art created by those individuals on the Spectrum, a quick google image search will bring up some truly amazing art. The other kind is the category I fall into. Art that attempts to capture the essence of Autism, living and breathing it. The magic, the surreal and also the ugly side, lets face it everything has an ugly side, even love.



                I have painted, sketched and photographed Mikey countless times. I would say at a rough estimate, only one in fifty images I create of Mikey capture the essence of him. I put that down to my limited understanding of Autism. I understand the basics and I understand Mikey, but Autism is something I cannot visualise, not the thing itself, not the neurological pathways, not the synapses, not the how or why. In my opinion the greatest portraits are of subjects the Artist knew, that intimacy shows in the work, that understanding of the subjects character and, of course, the mystery.



Water Me!


Mikey's favourite thing, and has been for years, is water. The colder the better, he likes to dip his head into various bodies of water, puddles, pools, dog bowls and yes the toilet when no other source is available. Mikey + Water = happiness. Of all my images of Mikey this one is the one I would have made into a massive poster for my wall. I captured him and his water as it is, to anyone who knows Mikey this image IS him.

4 comments:

John Salmon said...

It's good to see this in the larger format Samantha. I love black and white. It seems to give a photograph an edge over colour and has that timeless quality. That water looks like icicles doesn't it?

You must have spent ages in anticipation of pressing the button just at the right time.

I like it.

Samantha Anne Hutchinson said...

"Still Waters Run Deep"?..Thanks John. I do sometimes wait and wait for a good shot, mostly I just take 100 odd and trawl through them in the hopes I got lucky :) I love digital, it took me a long time to wean off my 35mm manual, which sits on my shelf looking sad. With a kid like spiderboy, there is no stillness or posing.

Mandy Hanks said...

This is an amazing photograph.

Samantha Anne Hutchinson said...

Thanks Mandy! :)