A video installation of screen images and sounds provides a glimpse into the ‘inner language’ of Paul’s experience.

The video’s soundscape is made up of the incidental activity of the sea and wind, interspersed with fragments of speech that constitute Paul’s rich repertoire of utterances. The final element in the soundscape is a synchronised recording of Paul’s heartbeat as he encounters the roller coaster of the senses and the psyche that for him constitutes the experience of a walk through the coastal landscape.

Project Art Works highlight our cultural anxiety around visible difference: children stare, adults may try to conceal their looking but disability, once seen, creates a haze of preconception that somehow steals a person’s identity and individuality. Project Art Works propose working with ‘calm bafflement’ – accepting a state of vulnerability in order to truly connect with another human being who does not use standard/accepted modes of communication and social etiquette in their engagement with others.

This project  is supported by the Arts Council England.

Kate Adams

Kate Adams is a visual artist, co-founder and director of Project Art Works, based in Hastings, England. She has initiated many responsive, collaborative projects with artists, galleries, psychologists, children and adults who have severe neurological impairment and their families.

Kate’s experience as the mother of a man with complex needs is central to the organisation’s responsive and informed approach. It requires a high degree of knowledge and sensitivity to the ethical issues arising from the inclusion of people who cannot knowingly consent to their involvement in art and culture. She believes that knowledge is power and informed diplomacy the most effective means of achieving quality of life for people with complex needs and their families. In 2012 Kate was awarded an MBE for services to art and disability.