- Venue
- Espacio Gallery
- Starts
- Monday, May 1, 2023
- Ends
- Sunday, May 7, 2023
- Address
- 159 Bethnal Green Road, London, E2 7DG
- Location
- London
- Organiser
- Espacio Gallery
Stemming from her own personal experiences with her two sons, who are autistic with complex needs, Alison uses art and activism as a way to bridge these gaps and create a space that’s supportive and accessible.
Alison and her family became active members of Harringey Autism, where Alison worked as an artist educator running workshops with SEN children and their families. This led to conversations with both parents/carers and children, and the workshops became a safe space for difficult conversations; a cathartic moment for children who were struggling to communicate in school environments. That’s how the conversations started.
Alison’s practice began to focus more on these conversations, and she started collecting stories about how people hold conversations, how they feel about their own communication, and how they navigate the world around them with their families and carers. Many people expressed a sense of frustration. There was a lot of grief that came out of those conversations, and sadness from the family units, expressing a sense of loss, lacking and being ostracised, which became recurring themes throughout the sessions.
‘Conversation Starters: Suspended Time’ brings together a collection of new work developed over the duration of Alison’s Arts Council England Developing Your Creative Practice project.
Working in multiples, the exhibition brings together groups of work made in porcelain, bronze and glass, immortalising conversations Alison has had with families over the last year; the community built and the comfort of shared experiences. She uses small interventions displayed in groups to portray the build-up of small conversations that become part of a larger dialogue, reflective of social practice more generally, as well as the personal and shared experiences of the neurodiverse communities that Alison has spent so much time with.
The quiet moments within the work – the smooth porcelain surfaces, the drips of glass and the hidden spaces within the bronze works – reflect the silent moments within the community; those who are selective mute, the abrupt ending of conversations, the distance sometimes felt by children and their parent/carers. Equally, the cracking of the ceramics, the weight of the bronze, and the juxtaposing materials that become warped together, shows the tension and strain expressed in many of the sessions.
The project has been supported by Arts Council England’s Developing Your Creative Practice Fund. With project and curatorial support by Laura Porter.
