** Note: This article is more than ten years old, and contains some outdated terminology. My ideas and perspectives have grown, evolved and shifted since, but I am presenting this unedited as a documentation of my journey.

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Paper presented in The Arts in Society 2012 conference.

First published by The International Journal of the Arts in Society: Annual Review, Volume 7 (2013), p. 29-39; and in the The International Journal of Arts Theory and History, (Common Ground Publishing).

Art in a Hidden World – creative process and invisible anomaly. 

Dawn-joy Leong, 2012.

Abstract:
What are the semiotics and meanings of art to a small, hidden sector of society with sensory and cognitive anomalies? How do these idiosyncrasies shape creative process? Much attention is now centred on Autism Spectrum Condition. Researchers in the fields of neurology and psychology are presenting more and more discoveries, as a growing community of autism self-advocates and associates are finding increasingly louder voices in the media and online. Inevitably, claims, counterclaims, heated discussions and bitter disputes abound. In the area of artistic creativity, there has been great interest in the particular talents attributed to individuals with autism. Books, articles and papers are being published on this subject, and an assortment of therapies aimed at developing these abilities are being proffered, while parents grasp at any and every suggestion of hope and reassurance about their children’s latent potentials. However, most of the postulations and assertions emerging about autism and creativity are from the non-autistic observer, and there are, to date, very few practising artist-researchers with autism stepping up on this platform rife with confusion and controversy to present their ideas from the personal vantage point. As an artist and scholar with autism, my interest in the area of multimodality in art is very much entrenched in my idiosyncratic sensory and cognitive profile. The aim of my presentation is to provoke more consideration towards the multisensory dimensions and potentials of artistic practice, as well as make a fledgling contribution of much-needed autobiographical empirical perspective on autism traits and the creative process. For the purpose of concrete illustration, I shall provide a brief overview of my most recent work, Scheherazade’s Sea, as an example of how sensory anomaly and neurodiversity shapes my creativity as an artist-researcher with Autism Spectrum Condition.

Keywords: Autism Spectrum Condition, Creativity, Hypersensitivity, Sensory and Cognitive Idiosyncrasy Artistic Process, Multimodality, Multisensory

Autism Spectrum Condition and the ‘roaring whisper’.

This paper introduces the ‘hidden’ sensory and cognitive world of an artist with Autism Spectrum Condition, in the light of creative process, and examines the possibility of creating mutually empathic platforms for neurodiversity through artistic research and expression.

Autism Spectrum Condition is a widely heterogeneous neurological condition, which main features include a lack of, or a different preferential pattern for social-relational reciprocity, sensory anomaly and atypical cognitive function. The spectrum encompasses what are currently known as ‘Classic’ or Kanner’s Autism, ‘High Functioning’ Autism and Asperger’s Syndrome. Generally speaking, in the former category, the distinctive features of autism are more obvious, due to prevalence of intellectual and proprioceptive disability, while in the latter two, specific autistic traits may be far less easily detected, especially in Asperger’s Syndrome, where individuals often appear more adept at acquiring neurotypical (general) social skills. The new DSM 5 to be published by the American Psychiatric Association will be incorporating Asperger’s Syndrome into Autism Spectrum without distinction, and henceforth, it shall be identified with higher functioning autism.

Sensory anomaly is one of the key features of Autism Spectrum Condition, evident across the spectrum in varying degrees, and can be classified within two contrasting categories: hyposensitivity and hypersensitivity. In hyposensitivity, individuals appear to be unaffected by, or not responsive to sensory stimuli, while in hypersensitivity; sensorial experience and reaction are over-exaggerated and extremely acute. The discussion in this paper about sensory idiosyncrasy in relation to creative process will focus only on hypersensitivity, in keeping with the author’s own sensory physiognomy.

Some common characteristics of sensory acuity include extreme sensitivity to or marked preferences for certain sounds and lights, hyperacusis, ability to perceive physical objects from multiple perspectives, unusual interest in or aversion to certain textures or touch, acute sense of smell, food selectivity, acute reactivity to pain and temperature changes, and sensation seeking or avoidance. In one study, it was found that higher functioning individuals in the spectrum were more severely affected by hypersensitivity than the lower functioning, and those in the non-autistic control group.

In the area of cognition, individuals with Autism Spectrum Condition have varied profiles. On the one extreme end of the spectrum, challenges include severe and obvious social, proprioceptive, verbal and intellectual disability, while at the other end of the spectrum, intellectual function ranges from normal to extremely high, and autism is not easily detected. Nevertheless, specific cognitive peculiarities exist, which distinguish higher functioning autistic individuals from neurotypical minds of similar age and intellectual ability. These include varying degrees of difficulty with executive functions, for example, problems with organization and planning, short-term memory, and inflexibility in strategizing and adapting to situational changes.

In the late 1980s, neuroscientist Uta Frith suggested that the detail focus inherent in autism is due to a dysfunction in global processing. This became the “weak central coherence theory”, which basically contends that individuals with autism are more adept at focusing on details because they are unable to perceive the larger whole. However, in recent years, further studies reveal a growing indication that the marked ability to focus on minutiae is more an instinctive cognitive bias or predilection, which connotes a cognitive style, rather than a reflection of impairment.

Higher functioning autistic individuals are better able to adapt and formulate their own learning and coping strategies, and circumvent or compensate for much of their autism-related sensory and cognitive idiosyncrasies. Nevertheless, when faced with the constant demands of a social system which fundamental dictates are very much alien, and even hostile, to their own intrinsic functioning systems, a great deal of inner conflict and tension ensues. The experiential world of higher functioning autism is often fragmented, confusing, and frustrating, where personal needs are ignored, buried underneath the ‘performance’ of a learned normality, and connate self-expression becomes an almost indecipherable ‘roaring whisper’.

Autism and Creativity – the conundrum

Interest in Autism Spectrum Condition has escalated at unprecedented levels in the last decade. Once a condition confused with schizophrenia, then later associated only with severe intellectual disability, it is now widely accepted as a neurological spectrum condition, where many individuals are known to possess normal to remarkable intellectual abilities, sometimes even special giftedness in certain areas. In fact, a great number of individuals with Apserger’s Syndrome are active, contributing members of society, fulfilling important functional roles in their communities.

A growing preoccupation with the unusual talents of autistic individuals amongst the general populace, is cogently facilitated by proliferate mass media, social networking, internet blogging. This eagerness for hype and overt romanticism has seen less than scrupulous self-styled ‘professionals’ and Hollywood celebrities offering unsubstantiated vignettes to the ignorant public, many of who are parents with autistic children, desperate to find solutions and hope. Part of the reason for this alarming circumstance may perhaps be due to a paucity of concrete research in this aspect of Autism Spectrum Condition, compared to the almost frenetic activity in other areas of autism research. The situation, however, is slowly changing, as more researchers turn their attention towards this complex phenomenon. There have been posthumous speculations about famous figures in history, linking them with Autism Spectrum Condition (especially Asperger’s Syndrome). Despite a few of these having been well researched publications, they nevertheless serve more as inspirational ‘food for thought’ rather than conclusive evidence, since the subjects are no longer alive to confirm any postulations. Other recent findings and observations by neuroscientists indicate possible links between exceptional talent and dominant autistic traits of hypersensitivity and detail-focused cognition. However, in order to develop any kind of cohesive volume of information about a subject, much more data from a wider variety of perspectives needs to be gathered and evaluated. Of particular importance are empirical and autobiographical accounts.

Where artistic practice and research are concerned, it is futile, and even fanciful, to speak about a work and its evolution merely in terms of perceived ‘mystical’, ‘spiritual’ qualities, or to make commentary based on superficial, external and technical features, without thorough examination of cultural and personal histories within their true contexts. The same principles should be applied to researching artistic creativity in autism. Much significance lies in the intimate aspects of personal history, particular autistic characteristics, motivations and approaches. In other words, the hidden semiotics arising out of condition-related circumstances, the autistic artist’s sensory and cognitive profile, life experiences, contexts, coping and adaptation strategies, and chosen processes for execution and realisation within these contexts.

At present, scholarly autobiographical perspectives of individuals with Autism Spectrum Condition is scarce.  As an artist with Asperger’s Syndrome, my interest in multimodality and interdisciplinary practice is very deeply entrenched in my own idiosyncratic sensory and cognitive profile. The intention of this paper, therefore, is to provoke contemplation and dialogue about multimodal neurodiverse dimensions in artistic practice and research, in the relatively unmapped area of autism and creativity. For these purposes, I shall present a brief overview of features and processes involved in the creation of my most recent interdisciplinary work, Scheherazade’s Sea, within the framework of autism and ‘invisible’ sensory and cognitive anomalies.

Scheherazade’s Sea – utterances from a hidden world.

“Inside the confines of a small physical space, for a brief half hour or so, unfolds an intimate micro cosmos, where the surreal merges with hyper-reality, and senses are engaged in a seamless interplay of expressions and experiences. Scheherazade’s Sea explores the fragmented sensory realm of my own autistic consciousness, in which music and sound carry visual meanings, verbal communication accompanies olfactory associations, symbolisms abound and heightened awareness of sensorial details can sometimes be disjointed, confusing and overwhelming, other times comforting and humorous, but always dynamic and alive.”

(Programme Synopsis, 9 April 2010 performance.)

Scheherazade’s Sea is a mixed media, multi-sensory installation and performance, comprising nine interlocking segments, each with its own sub-theme, instrumentation and media, sensory and artistic features, presenting different aspects of the author’s artistic raison d’être.

The nine segments in Scheherazade’s Sea are as follows:

1. Introduction to Scheherazade’s Sea – welcome address and explanation.
2. The Sea – video, soundscape, poetry and vocalisation.
3. Two – video, poetry and song with piano accompaniment.
4. The Little Mindblind Duckling – storytelling.
5. Bleeding Cesspools – video, soundscape, poetry and vocalisation.
6. Call and Response – video, violin, poetry and vocalisation.
7. Oranges and Milkshakes – video, performance and interactive activity.
8. Le Petit Garçon et Bunnyblu – visual image and storytelling with piano accompaniment.
9. Scheherazade’s Sea – Fish Dreaming – video, soundscape, violin, piano, poetry, vocalisation, and choreographed movement.

The following discussion examines the more salient features of Scheherazade’s Sea in the light of its autism-related contexts.

1. Scale of Work and Praxis – some fundamental predispositions.

Scheherazade’s Sea is an intensely compressed work, which was created and crafted in almost complete isolation. Collaboration occurred only at the final stage, with a violinist, pianist, project manager, audio technician, hired photographer and two volunteer videographers. There were altogether two production meetings and one full rehearsal.

This modus operandi is a departure from that of most interdisciplinary productions, which are usually much larger in scale, and highly collaborative from inception to the final staging. For an artist with Autism Spectrum Condition, however, the process of large scale, creative collaboration requires a high level of social-relational responsiveness that, although not impossible, can be nevertheless be extremely challenging, and, in some situations, distract from original intentions or hamper creative process.

In sensory acuity, even the most innocuous activity can cause over-exaggerated sensory reception and reaction. Although studies in the relationship between hypersensitivity and social withdrawal in Autism Spectrum Condition are still somewhat nascent and inconclusive, nevertheless, from personal experience and observation, I am of the opinion that there may be strong links between the two, rather than any true dislike for interpersonal connection. Becoming involved in an intensely collaborative creative effort would demand lengthy periods of social-relational reciprocity, which in turn bring about a punishing level of sensory stimulation. The implication is thus an inordinate amount of mental and physical energy spent at integrating sensory input, battling with the negative side effects of overstimulation, struggling to maintain calm and control over mounting anxiety triggered by sensory confusion, while having to engage in artistic expression and creative engagement.

Although I had made sketches of the layout for the set of Scheherazade’s Sea,the specific, detailed arrangement formed part of a meticulous, intuitive utterance, an intimate act of creating order out of apparent chaos, and a seamless part of the on-going developmental progression of the work, which was not complete until the performance had ended. A process such as this was so steeped in implicit sensorial meanings and cognitive associations, that it would have taken too much time and punctilious effort for me to convey accurately to another person, who would definitely not share a similar sensory and cognitive profile, within the time frame given. It was therefore imperative for me to personally execute as many facets as possible.

2. Opulence and Minutiae – sensory and cognitive interactions.

Antonin Artaud once declared, “It is the mise-en-scene that is the theatre much more than the written and spoken play.” According to Artaud, the anchoring of a narrative upon the mise-en-scene creates channels of expression that transcend semantic articulation. The set of Scheherazade’s Sea is in itself a visual and tactile feast of vibrant colours, rich textures, eclectic juxtapositions and combinations, and multimodal associations. Each small installation within this dynamic biosphere, is a sentient organic entity of its own, filled with static and narrative, symbolic and historical meanings. These independent units, at the same time, fulfill specific purposes and important assignations within the cohesive whole, creating a dynamic body, very much as members of a common social community would function.

Upon this landscape, the performance unfolds in time and space, with more visuals in the form of video projections and lighting effects, added narratives from poetry, song and stories, soundscape, vocalisations, tonal and chromatic music, and body movement. The video components in Scheherazade’s Sea feature collocations of bold, vivid colours and combinations of rich textures and/or textural suggestions, with simple, clean lines, whimsical cartoon drawings, using black ink on a white or very light background. For me, the former elements usually trigger pleasant visual and tactile associations, while the latter suggest order and clarity of thought and expression. In the area of music composition and sound design, there is a preference for cleaner and more ‘raw’ sonic properties, which are represented by linear melodic contours containing combinations of distinct sonorities and sparse textures. Wide-ranging dynamics facilitate expression of intense, rapidly changing emotions for dramatic effect, without the need for complex, thick and overwhelming orchestration, and thus avoiding sensory overload.

Regardless of neurological hardwiring, sensory perception strongly influences every aspect of life, including artistic style, preference and creative process. As a consequence of hypersensitivity, many sensory stimuli that seem innocuous are perceived acutely by my sensory system and often even inducing strong physical reactions like nausea, pain and extreme levels of anxiety. At the same time, acute discrimination of sensorial reception may also result in divergent preferences. The juxtaposition of eclectic preferences may seem puzzling because of the stark contrasts produced. However, these seemingly divergent characteristics enjoy a harmonious coexistence devoid of internal conflict, and are reflective of an opulent sensory-scape.

There was, however, no prior, large blueprint for the creation of this highly ornate and immersive environment. The strategy employed in the creation of Scheherazade’s Sea was to work according to my natural inclination towards detail focus, beginning with solitary, miniscule objects based on germinal ideas, gradually developing each piece as an independent organism, before each individual becomes a part of the cohesive whole. This seemingly fragmented, intuitive methodology, stemming from an autistic predisposition for intense detail focus cognition, permeates almost my entire oeuvre, and remains my preferred mode of creative praxis. It is a process much like putting together a jigsaw puzzle, without first needing to know what the complete picture would look like – an intuitive task many autistic persons excel at. However, it should be emphasised that this predilection towards intense detailed focus does not indicate a lack of global coherence, but rather, it presents a different route to which a centrally coherent structure may be arrived at, that is, working from inside out, instead of outside in.

3. Multi-layered Symbolism – linguistic and visual semiotics.

Proliferate use of symbols and layered metaphor, are prominent features in Scheherazade’s Sea. In fact, symbolism as a mode of intensely personal expression is preferred above the use of purely semantic constructions. Many individuals with autism, especially those who possess a stronger visual-spatial style of cognition, struggle with semantic textual and verbal communication, the severity of which depends on variable factors such as intellectual ability, linguistic exposure and training, as well as cultural environment. It is thus not surprising, that an autist with a visual cognitive inclination should turn to symbols and allegory in order to convey ideas. The title of the work itself is symbolic. The mythical character, Scheherazade, in the Arabic compilation of stories and folk tales, One Thousand and One Nights, relied on her ability to weave multi-dimensional tales, deliberately adapted to the Sultan’s tastes, for the purpose of survival. She understood the crucial necessity of ‘performing’ a different reality and employing covert intervention strategies, just like many individuals with high functioning autism have to do, in order to navigate a confusing, foreign and sometimes even belligerent social environment.

At the visual forefront of every artistic performance or exhibition is the Event Poster. It represents the primer to the work, offering glimpses of the art piece, the content and nature of the performance, and the artist, with key information about venue, date and time. The event poster for Scheherazade’s Sea contains a highly compressed, micro-cosmos of the entire work itself. It contains elaborate use of ideograms and motifs with strong associations and layer upon layer of implied narrative. The following is a brief description of its visual semiotics.

The fish represents of wealth and abundance in traditional Chinese culture. It was also used by the early Christians to symbolise the Christ. Predating the Christian Ichthys, the fish is the astrological sign of Pisces. In my work, the fish represents life incarcerated within suspended isolation. The fish in this poster is also an eye, its dorsal fins are eyelashes, indicating sensory and spiritual insight. Circles represent the never-ending cycle of life, hinting at inevitability. Within this darkened circular structure, which is also the iris of the fish, a forlorn, lone, naïve, naked female creature reposes in an upright position – an alter ego. Although it is winged, the creature is yet eerily immobile – flightless, haplessly trapped inside the double ‘seeing eye’, a mute witness to all that goes on around her.

Inside the body of the fish, is a landscape. The tree denotes life, and the sun a life-giving resource. Snow is falling in the presence of the radiant sun, the scales of the fish become wind, and roots of the tree melt into undulating waves of an underground stream. Life is an unchanging and inexorable process, regardless of all that unfolds within human consciousness.

The horn is a tough, hard substance, as is the shell. In Jewish tradition, the shofar is significant to rituals for battle as well as sacred holidays. In the Event Poster, horn-like conical shells embedded inside the tail of the fish symbolise the constant, but often futile effort to build protection around one’s most tender parts, whether literal or metaphorical. The doorway at bottom left suggests a passage out of the picture, but it is a closed door, and the spider’s web above it indicates that it has not been opened for a very long time, if ever at all. There is no escape from the inevitable.

The fish is crying, a single teardrop that falls at the feet of the winged creature. Inside, is the leaf of the poison ivy vine, suggesting the immediate potency, yet transient effects, of mild toxicity. The leaf wraps around a heart, and it is also the tongue of the serpent. The serpent has long been a widespread symbol of mystery, and in some cultures, of insidious evil, and it is used in this context here. The poison ivy leaf at the end of the serpent’s tongue, clutching the heart, represents feminine guile taking control over naiveté and childlike trust. This is a circumstance that many autists face in the confusing labyrinth of neurotypical social-emotional interactions and relationships. The key at the end of the serpent’s tail is the key to unlock these mysteries, which the fairy-like naïve creature cannot grasp, but which the serpent has full ownership over. This is an allusion to the lack of intuitive grasp of neurotypical Theory of Mind in individuals with Autism Spectrum Condition, rendering the person slow to grasp intricate, fluid and dynamic nuances of general human social interaction, resulting in a pervasive feeling of haplessness, isolation and marginalisation as a result of this ‘invisible handicap’.

A frog sits at the bottom right of the picture, a nonchalant, phlegmatic spectator of the tragedy unfolding above. The frog is a common fairy tale icon symbolising true love: the princess kisses the frog, which magically turns into a handsome prince, and they live happily ever after. However, in my art and writing, this concept is reversed, where the princess kisses the prince and the prince turns into a frog, because that is his true persona after all. The frog, for me, represents the fallacy of male heroism, a symbol of the fragile male ego and masculine cowardice and common spurious notions of love and romance.

4. Creativity and Imagination in Autism – a kind of hyperrealism?

It is suggested that creativity and imagination in higher functioning autism has more to do with highly elaborate modification and transformation of reality, than prestidigitation of new, previously non-existent material. In Scheherazade’s Sea, each interwoven thread of chimera and drama in the rich tapestry of Scheherazade’s Sea is indeed spun from real life events, characters, experiences and emotions. Everything is concrete to begin with.

The Little Mindblind Duckling is a sad, whimsical, condensed retelling of true incidents and real-life characters, in the style of a children’s tale. The protagonist is a child with Autism Spectrum Condition, who is trying to navigate the complexities of socio-relational interaction, but who is severely impaired at deciphering, interpreting and intuitively reacting to the implicit mental-states of others, a condition known as ‘mind blindness’, indicative of a deficit in Theory of Mind. The character of Bunnyblu was created as an alter ego, and Le Petit Garçon et Bunnyblu is a true story, again retold as a children’s tale, in a deliberately affected manner to reflect the ironic, exaggerated nature of romance. The piano accompaniment is employed as a simple device to provide sonic allusion and atmospheric emphasis to the story. Bleeding Cesspools recounts in detail, through video, poetry, vocalisation and soundscape, a protracted encounter with a particularly unsavoury character and subsequent tormenting entanglement, as a direct result of impaired Theory of Mind.

The intentional creation of parabolic narrative and hyper realistic characterisation may also stem from an autistic tendency to maintain a measured disconnect from recollection of intense emotional experience or expression, thus creating a mental space in which the individual may assimilate, integrate, systemise and create logical bases, before reacting to the various stimuli, which are often very acutely felt.

Creating Empathic States through Art – making the hidden visible.

The many positive audience reviews of Scheherazade’s Sea indicated to me that I had largely achieved the goal of creating and conveying a personal expression of my atypical sensory and cognitive world. The one dissenting voice was that of a visual artist, who criticised the work as being ‘too busy’. She objected to what she felt was an over profusion of details, saying it made her feel confused and unable to focus. She also complained that the videos were tilted and not properly aligned with the screen. My rather amused, immediate reply to this was, “Exactly! Welcome to my world!” In a backhanded way, unbeknownst to her, this artist had actually paid a great compliment to the work. Although she did not grasp the conceptual multifaceted aspects of the work (despite having explained this to the audience at the start of the performance), she had nevertheless become so drawn into the sensory-scape of Scheherazade’s Sea that she subconsciously ‘felt’ or ‘empathised’ with the sensorial dissonance, chaos and disintegration that is part of the daily life of the autist with hypersensitivity.

Despite today’s positive climate of scientific advancement and socio-cultural enlightenment, a great deal of ignorant prejudice still exists against neurological differences. This may have a deeper basis in human social-anthropological self-protection mechanisms, where anything or anyone perceived as ‘different’ or ‘defective’, is rejected or treated with suspicion. Individuals with autism are usually either portrayed in public media as hopelessly obtuse, eccentric geniuses, or severely intellectually challenged savants, and labelled as unfeeling, anti-social, psychopathic characters, desperately in need of ‘correction’. One of the more damaging popular misconceptions is that autistic people are devoid of empathy. This erroneous idea stems from the misinterpretation that an impaired Theory of Mind implied a complete lack of empathy, that is, inability to feel emotions for others or another’s emotional state. I would like to suggest that in the case of social ‘mindblindness’, perceived deficits in autistic individuals are actually contextual, which differ from fixed, physical disabilities, like being unable to walk or see or hear. This is because the current notion of Theory of Mind is based on neurotypical (non-autistic) social cues and systemic structures, which are incompatible with the autistic patterns of cognition and relation. This brings any logical, inquiring mind to pose the question that if an autistic person’s inability or slowness to interpret mental states of non-autistic individuals and to navigate the neurotypical socio-relational realm are to be viewed as ‘deficiency’, should not the same be applied to the neurotypical individual’s inability to perceive autistic mental and emotional function and nuance?

Many higher functioning autistic individuals and parents of autistic children are now beginning to voice their concerns and objections to this damaging false impression and bias, however, this is a complex multidimensional issue that is beyond the scope and purpose of this paper to ponder. What is of crucial importance to me as an artist with Autism Spectrum Condition, is the urgent need to find ways to identify, nurture and develop the innate talents and abilities of autistic individuals, as well as at the same time to forge channels of understanding between the neurotypical and neurodiverse.

Artistic practice and research can be a potent, positive agency through which alternative perspectives may be proffered, received and shared. Scheherazade’s Sea served as a simple, functional introductory doorway into a different paradigm of existence – a different way to communicate, think, feel, see, hear, touch, taste, smell and be. Herein lies the purpose for my on-going interest in the study of Autism and the creative process: it is not my intention to ‘fix’ what is ‘broken’, but rather to embrace and empower beauty in the unusual and different, to open up hidden worlds, give voice to the roaring whisper, with the ultimate goal of creating mutually empathic platforms and foundations of understanding, for the acceptance and celebration of neurodiversity.

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