I’m a mother of identical teenage twins with autism, recently diagnosed myself, and primary carer for all their health and education needs. We’re often isolated at home, so our rural town of Dursley has become an extension to my Spike Island studio, and source of materials, locations and knowledge.

My sculptural practice includes wall murals, ceramics, writing, performance and film to create installations and environments that explore connection. Using the idea of The Mother as Stunt Performer, I’m telling my story directly, because sharing experiences and telling stories is fundamental to connection.

The Mother as Stunt Performer is a generous, gentle and complex study of mothering, identity, loss, gain and unconditional love through the lens of neurodiversity. An expansive body of new work exploring adaptative care and education in a broken system, expertise as protection and hope through radical connection.

The Stunt Performer’s paradox, where illusionary techniques deny their existence to the audience, creating a cloak of invisibility suturing them to their star, mirrors my experience as a mother where my use of repetition, rehearsal and visualisation is coupled to my removal from the frame. But just as stunt performers stepped out of the shadows to reveal the narratives they play within the larger picture; I’m putting myself in the frame.

The complexity of raising neurodiverse teenage boys with unconditional love and care, foregrounds hope, looking beyond trauma, to ways we can rebuild communities in light of acquired knowledge. 

It’s taken time to get here but love and hope are the future.