'Drawn and Quartered' - 'Thisability'

'Thisability' - the sense of 'being' by Saranjit Birdi 'Thisability' was installed as part of a group exhibition 'Making Sense' at Shire Hall Gallery, Stafford Exhibition runs 13 March- 9 May 2010 'Drawn and Quartered' - Videowork of still life 'Guitar, drum and candlestick' drawn with right and left elbows and feet. Artist Statement We all have 'disability' at birth. We live our whole lives gaining ability and it is this ability that defines us at any one time. Many of us encounter physical disability through illness, injury, ageing or physical and mental hindrances to movement. In encountering physical limitations what forces will inspire and motivate us go beyond them? Is it an engagement of the mind, body or spirit and in any particular order? For me, the act of making the drawings you see here and in the video, 'Drawn and Quartered', are experiences of a sense of 'being'. Over the last twelve years I realised a compulsion and skill of being able to draw to fairly high accuracy using both hands, both feet and elbows without regular drawing practice other than with my dominant right hand. This seemed rather wacky and weird at the time. I was bored in a life drawing class once and proceeded to draw a foot with my foot. I became aware that this compulsion and skill maybe related to my experience as a dancer and practising martial arts - habitually working the body symmetrically. I became aware that these skills could potentially have a very important application in teaching drawing to people who may have lost limbs or partial movement of limbs through illness, accident or, war conflicts. I have, therefore, been working with a group of clients at the Neuropsychiatry Day Therapy Service in Bucknall Hospital in Stoke-on-Trent. The workshops comprised of motivating the clients, suffering from brain and neuromuscular damage, to draw with different limbs, even their damaged sides. Their drawings created in the workshops are displayed in the exhibition. The only thing that separates ability, disability and super-ability is the 'wiring', 'sensors', and joint mobility, not the act of concentration and sense of being. Watching a stroke victim concentrate for ten minutes to draw a two centimetre, perfectly straight, proved to me the sense of being and focus was just the same as when I produced a complicated composition. Proprioception and Kinesthesia Whenever we move, certain physiological processes take place. The most important of these being the senses of proprioception - an unconscious awareness of the body's position, speed and direction of movement in space and, secondly, kinesthesia - the ability of muscles to feel the quality of movement and build up a memory bank of these physical sensations (which also have an emotional content). Proprioception is often referred to as the sixth sense. Dictionary - Proprioception , N. The unconscious perception of movement and spatial orientation arising from stimuli within the body itself. Proprioception is perceived through receptors located in the muscles and on tendons. We are able to move through space Using proprioception along with the gravity and rotation sensors in the inner ears. Without this sense we would not be able to walk, brush our teeth, draw or sit up, in essence we would not move or breath. It is a vital sense and hidden internally. The kinesthic sense allows us to 'feel', unlike proprioception, which is mechanical and unconscious. A person with physical disability and better proprioception skills may, for example, draw better than an able-bodied person with less development of these skills. By improving proprioception a person with a physical disability could out class one without the disability who has developed less skill and awareness along normal neural pathways. It is sometimes said we have 'two brains' - one half that logically orders space, time and language and the other that senses emotion, feelings and the present moment only. By using different sides of the body with brain-impaired patients, for example, the proposition is that different neural pathways and synapses in the brain are awoken to overcome the limitation in some way. Maybe when we are totally preoccupied in drawing, the sensations of seeing and moving the pencil across paper and following an observed image, we all experience 'Thisability', a sense of 'being', no matter what our individual point of limitation. I normally record the time it takes to create a drawing, I am not quite sure why I do this but it could be habit from producing drawings in an architect's office and always being conscious of the clock and accuracy of drawing information. It could also be to with documenting a moment of concentrated time, of being present. Saranjit Birdi March 2010 © Installation The installation comprised the following works Drawings The Drawing 'Four Picasso's' was a challenging portrait from a small black and white photograph. I drew three of the portraits during a 'Big Draw' event in Lichfield shopping centre in 2005. The fourth drawing was made in January 2010 sitting in my living room. The composition 'Guitar, drum and candlestick', was set up in the artist's living room and created over two days. Videowork 'Drawn and quartered' (Saranjit Birdi © January 2010) The act of drawing 'Guitar, drum and candlestick' was video recorded and subsequently edited to produce the video work 'Drawn and quartered'. Although there is no sound on the final videowork the room was filled with the noise of bollywood movies or general television playing in the background. Much of the artist's work is done in the presence of others rather than silence and solitude. Drawings from workshops with clients at , Bucknall Hospital The drawings produced by clients at the Neuropsychiatry Day Service, Bucknall Hospital, with whom I have been working are displayed alongside the artist's works in the exhibition. Works exhibited 'Four Picassos' Created October 2005 and January 2010 Process - drawings created using Left and right hands and feet 'Guitar, drum and candlestick' Created January 2010 Process - drawings created using Left and right hands and feet 'Drawn and Quartered - Video work' Created January 2010 Video work from creation of Guitar, drum and candlestick' 30 min duration . Process - video and editing by Saranjit Birdi Works by Disability Group from Bucknal Hospital Neurosychiatric Daycare Service clients - A4 booklets created January 2010 Process: workshops with staff and clients to create drawings using different hands and feet.