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“like a call to my muscles”

Sam Metz

With contributions by Amanda Sutton, Director of Venture Arts.

A drawing called ‘Tower 1’ by Michael Beard. I have never met Michael Beard, but I hope to soon when the world seems a little safer. I am aware that Michael works quickly, that he sometimes incorporates words and symbols into his work such as ‘London’, that his work is often place-based and that he is non-verbal.

“Yes, he has a fascination with cities which he has been to and particularly airports and towers. Most of his work is about travel, in fact, apparently he once booked himself on a flight to New York!!” (Amanda)

Tower 1, shows a visual language that communicates directly to me – it incorporates a ‘languaging’ that talks of physicality, it narrates from his body to mine. When I write about language, I don’t mean speech, I mean non-verbal embodied language, moving, touching, smelling, tasting.

“Michael also makes sounds which are part of his art making, I think!” (Amanda)

In the repetitive marks of this piece there is a story that my body receives through visual empathy. They are marks that I know and they communicate to me directly.

People who support neurodivergent adults sometimes only listen with their ears. Languaging deserves wider listening.

I am interested in how drawing in its widest sense helps to reveal the process of an artist’s work. I question as I am writing this if it is ok for me not to know Michaels biography, given that when the work of neurodivergent and learning disabled artists work is written about it either omits the biography of the artist or in contrast focuses heavily on it through a medical lens and makes assumptions about how the artists condition or disability gives them access to different ways of being –  as if they exist outside of a community and not within it. So many texts about neurodivergent and learning disabled artists are ‘othering’.

“whether to include a biography or not, is always a difficult one as then you feel like you are talking about someone on their behalf, without getting their permission or agreement” (Amanda)

The reason I think it might be permissible in this instance is because I believe in an equivalence of movement and physicality as ‘tools’ for appreciation in art interpretation. I think that gleaning understanding through the movement and process of making in the work is as relevant as written and spoken interpretation. Because I think that I know the marks that Michael makes, as if with my own body and because I feel that replicating the process of making, the manual inscription of drawing itself is revelatory.

The process of making Tower 1, the layers of marks and the rhythm of the marks are evident in the work itself.

“Often Michael will start a drawing with a shape which is more visually representative of say ‘a tower’ then work over it again and again until he is happy with it – it’s a fascinating process” (Amanda)

The reassuring familiarity of repeating the same shape (or word as in Michael’s other works) creates a visual rhythm that again my body knows. The green lacy marks that poke out on the left-hand side show the speed with which they were made. The marks make me think of the material resistance of the paper and how it might feel in the arm to make them, I draw myself and I can imagine making this drawing.

In Michael’s work I see with the tacit-feeling body how it would feel to make the marks, I read the artwork like a call to my muscles. I am interested in alternative communication that is non-verbal and body-based. I believe that lots of drawing created by learning disabled and autistic artists evidences, through traces and mark-making, ideas of ‘stimming’. I believe that lots of art created by neurodivergent artists has an element of ‘stimming’ and that these repetitive gestures can be read through visual empathy. I think it is a missing record in approaches to disability-led art and autism research. As someone who stimms myself Michael’s work is notation for my body. Stimming for me though is about conversation with the world; it is a way, in and of itself, of communicating. Repetitive movements can be exploratory.

Sam Metz a disabled/ neurodivergent artist based in the North of England

Amanda Sutton, Director of Venture Arts, Venture Arts is an award-winning charity based in Hulme, Manchester. They support people with learning disabilities to reach their full potential through visual arts and culture.

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