Colour. Texture. Wonkiness. Fuzzy boundaries. Spicy tears. Joy. Play. Chronic pain. Brain-gut health. Hypermobility. Bruises. Falls. Dyspraxia. Falling into a hyperfocus hole. Lost connections. Things left unfinished. Tangled wires. Misplaced stuff. A buzzing neon light that won’t switch off after dark…

The ritual of creating, connection, collective and individual wellness and play has become key to my creative wellness.

I had experienced creative block and burnout after burnout for years, unable to access my own arts practice.

During my MA I have experimented with an ever-evolving multi-disciplinary practice including exploring colour, drawing and zine-making using pens and poscas, collage, print work, sculpture, mask-making, puppet-creating, and digital illustration.

My original aim was to shine a light on invisible impairments. Much of my early work was centered around celebratory self-portraits to communicate the joys and challenges of my body and brain. I’m now delving into more abstract work with repetitive motifs. Outcomes are key. Rather than what I create, it is about how making makes me feel and the positive impact it has on my mental health. My practice unpacks the masking we do to hide our true selves. It asks how we can unmask for liberation and to be our authentic selves.

The process of tapping into my artistic brain again has been transformational and joyful, and sometimes painful and exposing. Embracing all of my wonky lines and imperfections and keeping them visible within my artwork. Having been diagnosed with ADHD at 44, I now realise why I’m not a fan of rules, but why I love and need routine and ritual. I am trying to centre creative wellness for myself and others, in life and within my neurodivergent brain.

My abstract work plays with motifs from my other pieces; the wonky bits; arms trying to juggle life and multiple ideas and thousands of hobbies, visible guts (from conversations I’ve had, IBS seems to be a thing for many neurodivergent people), the brain’s neural pathways, neurospicy tears (joy and pain). They become metaphors for complex emotions. The process of harnessing my ADHD hyperfocus, letting myself fall into an idea, and the feeling of wellness that manifests from this process does wonders for my anxiety.

I explore and unpack my busy brain and my lived experience to enable me to reflect, understand, and restore myself and get back in touch with my playful, fun self. Connections are important to me and as a creative producer, I have always loved to create inclusive and public-facing arts projects. I am beginning to create those spaces myself - encouraging quiet reflection time or community connection for neurodivergent people, being an intersectional ally, and enabling neurotypical people a little journey into an ADHD brain.

Activism, Allyship, and RADICAL JOY.