Spectrum Art

 Spectrum art is a mixed-media collaborative series between a brother and a sister in search of building a deeper understanding of each other. My brother Mason, who was diagnosed with autism at four years old, finds sensory stimulation through art. I enjoy art because I see it as a nonverbal journal entry for my deepest thoughts and feelings. We are both artists, yet our artwork is seen differently. My artwork hangs up in galleries while his art is crumbled up and thrown away, usually by his own doing. I never understood this, but I want to. 

I began this project with documentation. Learning about the spaces he draws in our home and his emotions towards those spaces. I also documented his artwork, every drawing I could find. I edited these images together onto one giant canvas, printed it out, and gave it to my brother to paint. He splattered paint all over it, creating new art from his old drawings. I then rephotographed his new work to create my own abstract photographs. This was our way to have a conversation with each other to understand how he thinks, how his mind works, but most importantly to gain a relationship with him through art.