sensorial In response to the experiences of those in the neurodivergent and disabled communities who find gallery visits frustrating, noisy and ultimately unsatisfying, sensorial provides a sensory reprieve. The premise of this exhibition is to touch, listen and be immersed in the artworks, rather than simply observe them. The exhibition includes new and existing work made by neurodivergent and disabled people, and those who work with them. The artists and collectives have wholeheartedly embraced the idea of presenting works that captivate our full range of senses and, most importantly, that can be touched. The works are sensory invitations to enter each artist’s world and consider their perspective. Due to the experiential nature of sensorial I decided to invite writers to review the exhibition, resulting in this post-opening catalogue as well as three short essays available on our website. To be able to respond authentically the writers needed to experience
sensorial, hear the artists speak, and fully engage with each work, before writing their reviews. Many of the reflections made in the following essay, and the online texts, have been echoed by visitors throughout the first few weeks of the exhibition. From the squeals of delight by artists during install and the exuberance of the opening night guests, to the overwhelming excitement of repeat visitors and delighted children, the emotion I will forever associate with sensorial is joy! The joy of feeling included. The joy of being accepted for who you are. The joyous nature of the works – joy that resonates through all our senses – that allow for tactile experiences of connection, contemplation, nostalgia and calm, as well as celebration, pleasure and play. I hope you feel the joy of sensorial too. Rilka Oakley Artistic Program Leader Blue Mountains Cultural Centre
LIAM BENSON hello, good to meet you 2022, upcycled textiles, installation view
spaces of possibility Art is a vehicle of expression and connection, but art exhibitions are often designed to be viewed from a distance. sensorial collapses the boundaries between art and audience, creating new spaces of possibility for artistic experience and exploration. This exhibition centres disabled and neurodivergent creators, and invites the audience to participate in a collective reimagining of our internal and external worlds. Many of the artists involved in the exhibition spoke about their desire to imagine new forms of space, to build community, and to create supportive and joyous environments for disabled audiences. Their hopes and intentions for their work resonated deeply with me: as a multiply disabled wheelchair user, I am keenly aware of the value of spaces like this. sensorial is an open window, an outstretched hand. It is a celebration of the infinite and beautiful range of human experience, and of our many ways of moving through and interacting with the world. In SubMerge, created by Alison Bennett and Megan Beckwith with Ramana Dienes-Browning, the artists attempt to translate the experience of scuba diving, while drawing on autistic embodiment and the sense of joy and freedom from being underwater. For scuba divers, the pressure of the human body becomes equal with the surrounding water pressure. The boundaries between human and environment melt away: the diver is one with nature. SubMerge recreates this experience by using weighted blankets to simulate the pressure of being underwater, and a dreamy 3D animation on the ceiling conveying the visuals of the ocean. The artists invoke queer autistic ideas of kinship, and autistic views of materiality as a kind of life and agency. Superseding the patronising clinical concept of ‘object personification’, SubMerge shows us the power of promoting empathy, compassion, and connection with the natural world. In this artwork, humans are not superior to our climate and environment; we exist beneath and within it, as one part of a vast and vibrant ecology. Bennett calls this a “portal”: a glimpse into another world, a new way of seeing. Liam Benson’s hello, good to meet you is also an invitation to embrace new ways of seeing
and experiencing the world. Benson’s childhood experiences of tactility were informed by a deep passion for horses, drag, and dance, all of which are incorporated into his artwork. Over the wall, a large textile installation forms a massive undulating rainbow mane, a gigantic wave of colour. This installation is echoed in a series of wearable textile necklaces, created from recycled materials, which dance in constant movement when they are worn. An accompanying video explores non-verbal communication in horses, with loving, lingering close-ups of equine ears, tails, and eyes. For Benson, horses provided an escape and a feeling of safety. hello, good to meet you is about communication, movement, language, and love; as Benson puts it, “being aware of the different ways we communicate and making space for everyone”, while exalting in the “beautiful nuances of all the different subtleties”. Prue Stevenson’s By-Product and By-Product Unravelling similarly explore and celebrate the
ALISON BENNETT & MEGAN BECKWITH with RAMANA DIENES-BROWNING SubMerge (installation view) 2023, anaglyph animated video installation, 10 min
magical/medicinal/mechanical mysteries. (As I wrote this, my dictation software rendered the previous sentence slightly differently, adding its own meaning into the work: the heart is a friend.) In Wrapped Up by Hannah Surtees, audience members become active collaborators in the artwork by wrapping everyday objects in fabric and adding them to the shelves. For Surtees, wrapping is a meditative and intimate act, recalling her experiences of swaddling her premature son. Wrapped Up is accompanied by HUG, a huggable textile sculpture created from her son’s childhood clothes. Both pieces provide comfort, slowness, and peace from ordinary life.
nuances of autistic experience. Stevenson uses knitting as a form of stimming or self-regulation. She knits to channel excess energy into ‘socially acceptable’ creative pursuits – though she exceeded the limits of ‘social acceptability’ when the knitted work reached a behemothic length (around 15 metres).
Explore the possibilities is a collaborative work from the Katoomba Neurodiversity Hub, a glorious neurodivergent cosmos. Amy Bell, the coordinator, is “not an art therapist but a dream-
The artwork took two years to knit, and two and a half hours to unravel. According to Stevenson, “the wool holds memory, the memory of excess energy, and its squiggly form is testament to what it has been used for”. As in SubMerge, we are reminded that objects hold their own life and meaning, that in turn enrich and brighten our own lives. Ramana Dienes-Browning’s installation The Hut is another visual work that invites us to explore the “concoction of meaning” imbued in objects, technology, and the material world. The Hut is about nostalgia, as Dienes-Browning said it is about “stepping outside of our world that we know and creating the world that can be whatever we want it to be ... making meaning of our own existence through memory and the feelings those memories give us”. Again, we are given a vision of queer autistic freedom, joy, and kinship. The Hut is a friend, inspired by magical realism, calling on the audience to read our own meanings onto its
TOP: RAMANA DIENES-BROWNING The Hut (detail) 2023, assemblage, 240 x 240 x 180 cm BOTTOM: KATOOMBA NEURODIVERSITY HUB led by AMY BELL Explore the Posiibibilites (detail) 2023, mixed media installation, dimensions variable
weaver” she says that autistic people and people with ADHD are often made to feel like aliens, so they created a beautiful, weird, alien universe of their own. Michelle Swan, one of the collaborators, says that she is “not an artist but a maker”, often of spaces and communities. Swan describes Explore the possibilities as an attempt to “create a safe space for the neurodivergent community”, as an antidote to “clinical, surgical environments”. Like Stevenson, Swan uses macramé as a method of self-regulation, tying knots to keep her hands busy and calm her brain. A section of the macramé hanging has been left unfrayed, so that audience members can add to the work by tying their own knots. Other works also encourage the audience to go beyond tactile interaction and become creative collaborators. Inclusion provides an interactive wall of over 50 cushions stuffed with a variety of materials, designed to be played with and rearranged by the audience. I am reminded of the work of Amy Claire Mills, a disabled artist who uses textile and upholstery art to build community and challenge everyday ableism. During my visit to Katoomba I had a chance meeting with an old friend, one of the founders of the Sydney Queer and Disability community group (SQuAD). I told him to visit the exhibition, and an hour or two later he sent me photos of his contribution to Inclusion: two frolicking gay friends on the wall of cushions. Bailee Lobb’s Ahuriri is another work of queer autistic joy, and another work of space-making. It is also another exploration of self-regulation, and of autistic sensory worlds and perception. Lobb started making these inflatable sculptures as a
way to regulate herself before sleep, attempting to recreate the “golden sunrise of morning”. Different people will have different reactions to being inside the space. Some feel energised, others feel calm and separated. When I entered Ahuriri I felt a sudden, intense calm descend over me. I wanted to stay inside forever. The work is intimate, like being inside a sunrise. As with all of the artworks in sensorial, I felt surrounded by the love that went into it. I will carry that love with me long after leaving the exhibition, and I hope you do too. Robin M Eames (they/them)
BAILEE LOBB Ahuriri 2022, installation view in sensorial. Photo: Robin M Eames
LIST OF WORKS ALISON BENNETT & MEGAN BECKWITH with RAMANA DIENESBROWNING SubMerge 2023 anaglyph animated video installation sound effects by Saturn-3-Music from Pixabay 10 min LIAM BENSON hello, good to meet you 2022 installation 300 x 900 x 200 cm RAMANA DIENES-BROWNING The Hut 2023 assemblage, wood, paint, collected specimens, found objects 240 x 240 x 180 cm
INSPIRED BY ART led by CLARE DELANEY Inclusion 2023 recycled fabric, waste material, acrylic paint & sewing dimensions variable KATOOMBA NEURODIVERSITY HUB led by AMY BELL Explore the possibilities 2023 mixed media installation dimensions variable BAILEE LOBB Ahuriri 2022 hand-dyed nylon, mixed plastics, electronic fan 180 x 150 x 160 cm
PRUE STEVENSON By-Product 2019 wool, unravelled knitting dimensions variable By-Product Unravelling 2019 video 2:21 min videographer Allyn Laing HANNAH SURTEES HUG 2023 upcycled textiles 90 x 30 x 30 cm Wrapped Up 2023 upcycled textiles, kitchen items, baskets dimensions variable
Happy Hand Dance 2023 video, 26:36 min
ABOVE: INSPIRED BY ART led by CLARE DELANEY Inclusion (installation view) 2023, recycled fabric, waste material, acrylic paint & sewing, dimensions variable LEFT: HANNAH SURTEES HUG (detail) 2023, upcycled textiles, 90 x 30 cm
EXHIBITING ARTISTS Alison Bennett with Megan Beckwith Liam Benson Ramana Dienes-Browning Inspired by Art led by Clare Delaney Katoomba Neurodiversity Hub led by Amy Bell Bailee Lobb Prue Stevenson Hannah Surtees
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Blue Mountains Cultural Centre acknowledges that the City of the Blue Mountains is located on the traditional lands of the Dharug and Gundungurra peoples. Blue Mountains City Art Gallery would like to acknowledge the wholehearted participation by the artists and collectives who have contributed to the sensorial exhibition. This exhibition has only been possible through your willingness and committment to being visible.
Copyright © Blue Mountains Cultural Centre, the authors and the artists 2023. All rights reserved. bluemountainsculturalcentre.com.au Published in conjunction with the exhibition sensorial 16 September – 12 November 2023 A Blue Mountains City Art Gallery exhibition curated by Rilka Oakley Photos: silversalt unless otherwise credited
This exhibition is supported by the Dobell Exhibition Grant, funded by the Sir William Dobell Art Foundation and managed by Museums & Galleries of NSW.