I am excited to announce my commission by the National Gallery Singapore, to install a new iteration of Clement Space. Opening on 11 January 2020 as part of the larger Light to Night Festival, my installation will run on until 1 March 2020.
by Dawn-joy Leong
The city is filled with constant noise, crowds, smells and bright lights. Everyone is affected in some way by the cacophony, and stress levels rise with each shove, push and crunch. For the autistic person with hypersensitivity, the city can be a merciless and savage force against mental and physical well-being. There is an increasing awareness of access to inclusion for Autistic people in public spaces and growing in popularity is the ‘calm room’. However, these are usually designed by non-autistic persons based on medical models and there is little to no detailed consultation with actual autistic end-users.
Instead of the clinically prescriptive, therapy-focused ‘calm room’, Clement Space is an immersive experience offering intimate reflections from the rich tapestry of the artist’s own autistic senses, welcoming all into a personal sensory wonderland where curious engagement, safe respite and peaceful restoration co-exist in delicate, tranquil balance. Clement Space is a concept and term coined by the artist in her 2016 PhD dissertation, inspired by her psychiatric assistance dog, Lucy Like-a-Charm, a rescued former racing Greyhound from Australia.
Dawn-joy Leong 