Exposed to real art

We all express ourselves differently, but the images made by my son Paul, who has severe intellectual disabilities, and the other children in his class at his special school, were always all the same. I was disturbed by this at the time and put it down to the teachers and assistants physically helping the children to hold brushes and tools, and their well-intentioned desire to help the children produce images that looked like art. The children were distinct and individual in their ability to create art, but this was not communicated in the images they produced. As an artist this realisation sparked a deep and lasting change in my own practice and the life of my son. It led me to co-found Project Art Works with Jon Cole and to develop approaches to creative collaboration that enabled people with severe intellectual disabilities to make and experience visual art on their own terms.

Our conviction was that everyone, whatever their sensory, physical or cognitive ability, has strong and vital qualities that are a reflection of their individuality and ways of engaging in the world. It is these qualities that we try to reach and make visible through art. Making and experiencing visual art is particularly important for people with severe intellectual disabilities who often lack the tools to communicate their thoughts, fears and feelings in other ways. We, and the artists we work with, can make a real and positive difference in their lives.

The format and content is limitless but we always agree at the outset that this involvement must be meaningful and not a short-term exercise

Project Art Works conducts a wide range of visual art-based projects across the UK with people who have severe intellectual disabilities, together with professional artists, arts institutions and the social care sector. We are artist-led and our projects embrace the social, cultural and political forces that both enable and disable people who have severe intellectual disabilities.

My son Paul is now 30, and thanks to a supportive family and wider network he lives a full life. As a family, we manage his quality of life and care, and have strived to integrate him into his community in all ways. However, social inequality and exclusion remain barriers to quality of life and wellbeing for many people who have severe intellectual disabilities.

Our programmes and activities address some of these barriers through art, film and collaboration, but in order to increase social and cultural inclusion, people need to be more visible and better understood. Visibility, however, needs to be managed in a way that gives individuals the right kind of exposure and in a way that they can control. This takes sensitivity, skill and experience.

Through ongoing collaborations with galleries, including MK Gallery in Milton Keynes, the Foundation for Art and Creative Technology (FACT) in Liverpool and the De La Warr Pavilion in Bexhill, we are exploring and promoting practical new approaches to involving severely intellectually disabled people in visual art activity. The format and content is limitless but we always agree at the outset that this involvement must be meaningful and not a short-term exercise. We strive to ensure that these projects are part of the mainstream programming and are of exceptional quality in concept, aesthetic and production.

The galleries are open and enthusiastic about the projects which have facilitated creative interaction between gallery staff teams, social care agencies and people with severe intellectual disabilities, who often have challenging behaviours. We share the aim to foster greater understanding in mainstream cultural organisations of this excluded group of people and to also open up pathways to greater cultural inclusion for people of all abilities.

Kate Adams is Director and Co-founder of Project Art Works.
www.projectartworks.org
@ProjectArtWorks