On the Monday before the break, we launched Realise, the purpose of which is to distill one of our investigations from the previous project into a finished body of work. Not only does this involve assessing the work from Investigate to find what our most ‘successful’ pieces were, but also it will involve finding the work that we can best fully actualize in a form.

Here the distinguishing factor of being a visual communicator is paramount, as we are to identify a social and political context for our work as well as an audience. I definitely have a social political context in mind, communities of those who are on the spectrum or are related to people on the spectrum, and I definitely want to tell those stories. It is just a matter of narrowing and hyper-focusing this aim.

For me, after the Investigate project, I got a lot of different feedback for what my work could become based on my digital illustrations, children’s book style illustrations, and linocuts. Isabel suggested that perhaps what could come out of the project could ultimately be a workshop for people on the spectrum, if the goal is ultimately to educate in a sense.

However, I am more interested in the visual aspect according to what I think I can actually accomplish in this particular time table. Ultimately, I was more attracted to the potential impact of a children’s book about people on the spectrum. Talking to peers, I realized, though, that my perspective isn’t as justified to talk to children, even if I have a basic story-line in mind. I don’t have kids at this point in time, and I don’t interact with little ones here in London.

However, I am knowledgeable about my own age demographic, to an extent, in rapidly adapting discourse about disability and mental health. Too, from my work, people reponded most strongly to my linocuts of the house as a visual. Combined, I have found my aesthetic: graphic linocuts (black and white); my audence: people my age (specifically sisters of people on the spectrum and high functioning people on the spectrum); and my subject: stories of particular individuals with autism.

With all of this in mind, I think the most logical and feasible final outcome will be a zine, which will be somewhat of a collage of these stories. Ultimately, the zine will be more of a poetic art book, but hopefully it can educate as well.

Where it will go and who will read it are certainly questions that I need to address, but I think this is the jumping off point from the investigate project.