Considering the theme of reignition and my practice as an illustrator.
I studied illustration in higher education for around seven years, simply because I knew that the longer, I stayed in school I stayed within support. For me, my creativity was a survival transaction and also the time I was treated most positively, I was a high achieving student and school was a place that offered safety and the support of my lecturers and peers.
However, when I left university, I was unsupported and eventually lost interest in the arts as my main goal was survival and stopped creating, I “lost my mojo” and spent years floating around different continents volunteering as a farmer in exchange for accommodation and trained and worked as an outdoors coach, which I did for many years.
When I returned to Wales, I fell in love with graphic novels that were made with the medium of printmaking. Printmaking reignited my desire to create again and it was a driving force of enjoyment. I loved the challenge of learning something new and the opportunity within failure to develop. It reignited a childlike sense of wonder and although I have been printmaking for around five years I still feel like a novice. I work primarily with linocut and this year I have really honed in on experimenting with the texture I can create with line work and the different processes I can use to get different effects. I have been working full time as a printmaking artist and I am really happy that I found it, I really struggled with employment as an autistic person and now that I have this, I am over the moon as not only do I get to spend every day doing something that is so enjoyable, it has also given me the opportunity to live safely as well as educate the general public/ my followers about autism.