sensorial offers a unique exhibition experience tailored for neurodivergent and disabled audiences that made me feel seen in a way I had never experienced at traditional exhibitions. The experience of engaging with sensorial was eye-opening; as I moved through the works, I felt the nerves that come with breaking traditional exhibition etiquette melt away, replaced by a grounding feeling of being understood. Each work revealed something new about myself and I left the exhibition with a more solid understanding of my neurodivergence and how I engage with the world.
Entering the space, I was immediately drawn to Liam Benson’s hello, good to meet you . With the weight of traditional gallery conditioning still bearing down on me, adrenaline pulsed as I reached for the strips of colourful fabric. But as my fingers trailed through the soft fabric, feeling the bumps and ridges of the netting they were tied onto, I felt giddy. There was an exhilaration in what felt like breaking the rules. Jittery with nerves and adrenaline, I sought refuge in SubMerge
The experience of engaging with SubMerge is something I won’t soon forget. Laying underneath the weighted blanket and quietly watching fish swim through rippling water projected on the ceiling above me, the nerves and adrenaline faded away. My eyes slowly adjusted to the 3D glasses, and I felt myself merge with the underwater world. This feeling magnified when I moved to the projection with headphones; with the addition of concentrated audio, I felt as though I were transported entirely. My breathing slowed to match the rhythmic song of the diver’s as it crackled through their regulator, and as the warbling sound of the water filled the silence behind it, I was enveloped in a sense of connectedness. Pulling off the headphones, I realised the feeling had remained. I no longer felt nervously bound to traditional gallery conditioning. It had been replaced by a profound sense of connection to the strangers sharing the exhibition space with me – a realisation that the experience of my neurodivergence that I had never been able to put into words was being shared by others, and despite being total strangers, we were connected through sensorial and the safe-space it provided to engage with neurodivergent art.
Hannah Surtees’ Wrapped Up was my favourite piece in sensorial SubMerge had left me in a state of calm awareness. I was more aware of the people I was sharing the space with and was inspired to engage wholeheartedly with each work. Entering Wrapped Up with this mindset made me appreciate it even more. Sitting down to choose an object to wrap, I wondered why people chose the objects they did and how they chose to wrap them. I dug through the box of items until one stood out to me – a small porcelain jug – and began to carefully wrap the fabric around it. As I slowly wrapped the jug, taking my time to smooth the fabric into neat creases, that feeling of connectedness surged; I felt connected to the object and who had owned it, and with everyone who had and would engage with Wrapped Up
Placing my wrapped jug on a shelf amongst the other wrapped objects, it struck me how differently everyone had wrapped theirs. Some had followed the techniques shown in the tutorial video playing on a nearby screen, while others had wrapped their objects in a completely unique way. Some were messy, with corners of fabric poking out from where they had been pushed into a crevice. Others were neatly wrapped, the fabric edges tucked cleanly out of sight. Some objects stood alone, while others sat close to another object. Placing my wrapped jug on the shelf amongst the others, this sense of connection became fully realised; the wall of objects showed how differently everyone had approached the task, reflecting the differences between us, yet seeing them all together, there was a sense of harmony – that despite the differences in how we look or the way we go about things, we were all there together, connected by our neurodivergence.
Kristina Mustac (she/her)Copyright © Blue Mountains Cultural Centre, the author and the artist 2023.
This exhibition is supported by the Dobell Exhibition Grant, funded by the Sir William Dobell Art Foundation and managed by Museums & Galleries of NSW.
LIAM BENSON Hello, Good to Meet You (detail) 2019. Commissioned by the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia for the Jackson Bella Room, 2019. Photos by Jaimi Joy, Courtesy the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia A Blue Mountains City Art Gallery exhibition curated by Rilka Oakley