An autistic human,
A greyhound dog.
Parallel Embodiments,
A journey of Being.
Endeavour of empathy,
Spaces of mind.
Sonorous communion,
Wordless interlocutions.
Enter barefoot
Scheherazade’s Sea:
Dancing
Awake
Inside dreams.
Sonata in Z (2015) completes a trilogy of physical studies in Autistic Parallel Embodiment and elemental empathy. The preceding two exhibitions – Roaring Whispers (2013) and Little Sweets 小甜心 (2014) – presented confrontations with the eclectic cacophonies of my autistic existential oxymoron. As a cadential resolution to the three-part opus, Sonata in Z unwraps sensorial equilibrium and tranquility. Prevalent social autocracy demands a performance of conformity, creating stressful unnatural dissonance for the autist. In Sonata in Z, social communion emanates from within natural autistic dimensions of sensory contentment. Drawing upon the well-documented connection between autistic persons and animals, Sonata in Z is directly inspired by my greyhound Lucy’s innate ability to locate and create intimate oases of comfort, and the gentle non-verbal elegance with which she executes this inexorable mission. Like a musical theme, photographs of Lucy in sonorous repose lead the way into the space, wherein a synergetic human-and-canine symbiosis unfolds. Sonata in Z is an invitation to empathise with intrinsic autistic empathies: remove your shoes, step into this clement interstice, leave preconceptions at the threshold, and become part of its dynamic essence and rhythmic momentum, where we do not speak in words, but in the vibrant language of sensory consciousness.
(Dawn-joy Leong)
Scheherazade's Sea 