Reflection on Arne Svenson's "About Face"

The work is not only for audience and art enthusiasts visual pleasure but used as a teaching tool for Children with Autism. The work helps them develop facial recognition skills. This dualism in the work is what contemporary art offers the artist, a freedom to explore practices and the ingenuity to merge them. I can appreciate this mergence as I incorporated the practice of art therapy with that of contemporary art to achieve the "Righting Misconceptions" series. In Svenson's work, the students are used as subjects and cyclically, the work is used for them as a learning tool. The work is also about reactions, our facial expressions exhibit to others and to ourselves our reaction to certain actions. This work forces me to reflect on my own. With my new work, "Reflection of the Societal and Self-Image", I wish to use my photographs as a learning tool for the audience, to allow them to reflect on how they perceive people with disabilities, or if they have a disability, how they perceive themselves and others (with or without disabilities). In addition, how people with disabilities see themselves and how society, the disabled and the non-disabled affect each other. Also, Sean's facial expressions exhibit what is going on internally. My personal reaction is different in each photograph. In one he appears to be sad, another happy, and in another curious. Each photograph displaying a different expression and hopefully, portraying to the audience how dynamic and expressive, a personality, he is and in essence what other persons with disabilities are. It would be interesting to get people with disabilities reactions to the work and perhaps I can arrange a visit to the 'Art of Norwich 21' exhibit (where my work will be on display) with participants from BUILD (Bridges Unlimited for Individuals with Learning Disabilities).

Arne Svenson About Face (2011)

Exhibition at The Warhol 

February 5 - May 13, 2012