Mixed media on canvas
Framed size: A2 (recycled black frame)
Artwork size: A3 (without frame)
 
This piece grows out of my experience of neurodivergence, particularly the intensity of sensory overload and heightened sensitivity to colour and light. I often register perception as layered and excessive, sometimes chaotic, sometimes unexpectedly connective. Neurodivergent Babel Towel is an attempt to make that sensation visible.
 
The work is built through many stages and with a range of materials: vinyl, paint, and acrylic paint on canvas that is dried and cut into fragments, layered with different vinyls, foams, sequin-like reflective sheets, and acrylic markers. Each stage involves a process of cutting, reassembling, and layering, creating a surface that resists settling into one fixed form. In this refusal, the work mirrors my own experience of neurodivergence: an ongoing effort to escape being reduced to one thing, or being made to conform to normative expectations of what art should be, or how an artist should show up in the world.
 
The holographic and reflective elements mean that the work is in constant dialogue with its environment. It collects and reflects light throughout the day, moving from sharp highlights to softer glows, and sending fragments of its surroundings back to the viewer. In this way, it behaves less like a static object and more like a surface in flux, absorbing and returning information.
The recycled black frame is both a sustainable choice and a way of protecting the fragile, light-responsive surface. It is advised that the piece remains in its frame.
 
For me, this process was a way of externalising the experience of overstimulation and hypersensitivity. The work does not resolve those sensations, but holds them as a record of movement, layering, and response.