By Elzette Bester
As an adult artist diagnosed neurodivergent, I face daily challenges that can influence my practice and ability to submit work to exhibitions or competitions.
I have a team that supports me with my mental health, executive functioning, heightened anxiety, and depression. It is a daily challenge but I have years of experience as a graphic designer and illustrator, and many skills under my belt which help me participate in most art events if I have the capacity to do so.
For many though it is a mountain too high to climb. While some exhibitions and competitions claim to be open to all, the reality is often more complex. The digital age has introduced new challenges such as online application forms and digital submissions. For those with limited digital literacy or cognitive difficulties, these can be significant hurdles.
Many of my students and fellow community artists tell me that these are the reasons they don’t participate in exhibitions or art shows. They end up giving up in despair and frustration and chalk it up to not being ‘good enough’ or ‘not smart enough’ or even worse to stop producing art!
They might manage to go to an exhibition they wanted to be part of and enjoy the art and atmosphere, but feel a sense of shame and loss that others were ‘able’ to get through the process of submitting, and they were not. This leads to increased isolation, dysregulation, and a decreased motivation to continue with their art practice which is supposed to increase their mental health and wellbeing!
The process to submit any work often starts with the simple act of photographing a physical artwork. For someone without prior experience, ensuring optimal lighting and avoiding distortion can be near impossible. Then you need to upload the image, navigate the online forms, write about your submission with a word count limitation, title the work, and put a price on it before you can press ‘send’.
For people with complex difficulties and anxiety, this can be very confronting and challenging, and can take days or weeks to complete. The ability to sit for long periods of time, maintain focus, stay on task, and meet strict deadlines can be difficult or even impossible for many.
One of my art students, Angelina Tran, is Autistic with ADHD and went through this process of artwork submission. We have weekly tutor sessions to practise various forms of art and design. I assist her with her tertiary study at RMIT as she navigates a whole heap of demands and deadlines whilst focussing on her love for art and her exceptional skills as an illustrator. I encouraged her to be part of the Show Your WESTSIDE exhibition this year and gave her plenty of notice and encouragement and took her through the process of possible submission.
Together we went, step by step, including doing the run around of picking up prints and framed work. Angelina missed the initial submission deadline and I got in touch with the exhibition organiser to ask for an exception, which she happily gave. I couldn’t help but wonder how many others didn’t have someone by their side supporting them so that their talent and skill can be rightly showcased alongside others.
We want to celebrate everyone’s talents and creativity and their ability to be out there and own their place as an artist in their community. But it is crucial to recognise that neurotypical expectations can exclude a significant portion of the population who are neurodiverse, and do great damage; especially in a creative industry where the ability to think outside the box through visual communication is needed for innovation, creative problem solving, and critical thinking.
None of us wants to give up our art practice as we love our community of creatives and want to keep learning and creating. Changing the lens on societal and neurotypical expectations will be the key to create an even more beautiful art community filled with understanding, support, and a truly inclusive and safe space to belong, no matter your skill or ability level.
By embracing the neurodiverse art community, adapting our practices, and creating accessible processes for submissions and applications, we can develop a more inclusive art world where everyone, regardless of their abilities or challenges, has the opportunity to participate and celebrate their art.
