Divergences: New Works by Will Whelan
at Dorchester Art Project November 17th – December 22nd, 2018

Opening Reception November 17th 5-8pm

Gallery hours Saturdays and Sundays 12-6pm

Since the late 1990s, the term neurodiversity has emerged to express the phenomenon of great variation in neurocognitive functioning across human brains and minds. Some individuals who feel their neurocognitive functioning substantially diverges from dominant societal standards have self-identified as neurodivergent. Neurodivergence can result from an innate or genetic condition, such as autism or various forms of mental illness, or from a brain-altering experience, such as trauma or usage of psychedelic drugs. Those in the neurodiversity social justice movement support the rights and recognition of neurodivergent individuals and affirm neurodivergent identities, while resisting attempts to merely pathologize them. At the same time, the movement acknowledges the grave reality of conditions which have a pathological component. This perspective supports both the wish to be “cured” of the condition, and the desire to “own it” as part of one’s identity.
“Divergences” explores the experience of neurodivergence through the artist’s own perspective informed by mental health issues. Through print, collage, drawing and mixed media, the work deals with the mediation between rational and delusional perception, the breakdown of language, as well as the historical relationship between scientific “rationality” and perceived pathology. By questioning how we construct “normal” or divergent experience, the artist hopes to transform the lack of discourse around a taboo subject into an exploration of the possibilities of the human mind.