Inguz Project

This installation is a culmination of two years of research both in theory and materials. There is symbolism steeped throughout and each component is an important part of the conversation of this work as a whole.

The six masks, representing the roughly one in five people in the UK who are neurodiverse, invite the viewer to look in through their eyes and to glean their perspective. These prey animals draw the link between the fight, flight and freeze response and the neurodiverse but the masks also are quite literal.

Common to all neurodiverse conditions is the need to ‘Mask’ or cover your quirks, differences and anxieties in order to fit into society, at least enough to try to hold down a job, attend school or even use public transport. This practice is overwhelming and exhausting, it leads to burnout and increased risk of anxiety and depression. The masks gaze upon the twenty four figures, representing the approximate 4 in five people in the UK who are neurotypical, gathered as a group together seemingly conversing.

The reflective surface they have mirrors the masks back and provokes thought. Why does it seem most often that neurodiverse people are looking in on a society that they don’t always easily fit into? Where is our place and how can we integrate, how do we make our society a place where we all fit in.

Clay here, is an analogy for life but also for diversity. Clay comes, at its base, from the same materials, it is only the minerals, metals and other earthly elements which contaminate it that change its finish. Humans are all carbon based lifeforms. We are made of the same building blocks and yet we are each and everyone different and individual, made so by our environment, circumstances and experiences.

The colours I have used in the slip and glazing process have been selected as a response to research showing that people who are neurodiverse tend to prefer diluted hues of green and blue and natural brown tones which are easier for the eye to see, less jarring and less overstimulating. These colours coincidentally I already had as they are the ones I, myself am drawn to.

Viewers are invited to look in through the masks, and consider questions arising from both perspectives.

We were asked to keep a reflective journal throughout our studies, something which I don’t always find very easy. I have a lot of reflective thoughts but many are intensely personal and not much fun to read.

Working on a project centred on the inability to fit into our society made me think a lot about my own hurdles. I do find writing these things down to be cathartic and helpful to myself but I am hesitant to do so.

I have, for a long time had an interest in runes and their significance not just as text but as powerful individual symbols. A language that is more powerful than others. I adapted the runic script to fit our familiar alphabet and then used this to press many of my thoughts and experiences into the clay, the semblance of anonymity gave me confidence.

Coincidentally the rune Inguz, part of which means ‘new beginnings’ is the logo for the charity PTSD UK.

I have included the alphabet I have used here followed by some lined pages where you are welcome to decode my texts within the masks and read if you wish.

I find that often to share experiences is to help people understand and others who have similar issues to feel less alone.

The sherds in this piece are small but by no means insignificant. With clay being an analogy of life within this installation, these sherds are a part of that, they are symbolic of the experiences that we go through.

These particular sherds are personal to my own story, they are all cast from moulds made of real sherds which I dug up from the exact site where I had experiences at the age of 17 and 18 which left me with with PTSD.

They could symbolise hurt and everything wrong in my world but for me they don’t. They come from a place of hurt, but each object is beautiful in its own way. Each has a different texture, feel and weight. The main part of my own healing journey has been through finding peace and beauty in the things that hurt me.

I view these as grounding objects, a piece of something real which when held can help a person ground themselves when feeling overwhelmed, triggered, stressed or anxious. Many of our mental health issues (whether we are neurodiverse or neurotypical) are made worse by a disconnect between body and mind. Using a grounding object brings the two together again.

I encourage each viewer of this work to take a single sherd home with them and to practise grounding when they need it.