Understanding Stanley - looking through autism

Rosie Barnes

Photographs 1998-2004 by Rosie Barnes


In 1998 Rosie Barnes made a series of photographs of her 18 month old son Stanley which explored notions of scale, reality and emotion, and the confusion for a child of that age to decode the world they find themselves inhabiting. These images took on an incredibly poignant irony when he was diagnosed 2 years later with autism.


"I have read numerous times from adults with autism that 'the only cure for autism is awareness' - to be aware of the alienating differences of perception that they live with and accepting of their different behaviours. But how do you make people aware and accepting of something that is very difficult to express or understand, let alone see? How to make something invisible, visible? With Stanley's help I have continued to explore and these pictures are my attempt."


Rosie Barnes 2004

venue: City Art Gallery