I always hoped to get my brother Mike’s attention. Mike was autistic, low functioning and nonverbal; his attention was devoted to meeting his own needs. Now and then, I would see his eye looking at me. It seemed that Mike’s attention to others was the same as a lighthouse beam: paying brief attention to a […]
When we visited Mike at his group home, we would take walks in the nearby park. Mike was impatient to get inside after our walk on this occasion, and reached out to me so I would open the door.
It was very hard to get Mike’s attention. The portrait from yesterday attracted me for just that reason. I noticed his eye looking right at me. When I covered up the left side of the photo, I got a chill. My older brother was paying attention to me.
I studied this photography very carefully. It is the one that was the start of a 15-year photography project, which helped me to get to know my older autistic brother a little better. It was difficult to get Mike’s attention and, as his little brother, this is probably something that I craved. It is hard […]
Dad was always trying to get Mike’s attention. My older brother Mike wouldn’t give it. Mike is autistic, low functioning and nonverbal. Dad was heartbroken, but he never stopped trying.
Sometimes I have trouble focusing on the book I am reading. The image below is my solution for the problem of picturing lack of concentration. The portrait is more or less conventional. I’m not sure I got the eye rolling quite right, but they certainly are not focused on the book. I wonder if there […]
This sketch shows a relationship between the two people portrayed. It shows their attention to an object of common interest.
I am convinced that I am on the right path to finding some design patterns to tell my story. I have been studying some of Kandinsky’s compositions and marvel at some of the small patterns he smatters across the canvas: a grid here, an eyeball there. I am sure I can make something visible about […]
The suffix ‘-ology’ means, ‘the study of’. For example ‘cosmology’ means ‘study of the cosmos’, ‘biology’ means ‘study of biological phenomena’, and so on. Today I begin studying the symbols that were and are important in my life. I want to identify the symbols from my early years that have, and continue to affect my psyche. My […]
