onderzoeken (v.) {dutch} - 'to research' from onder 'under, below' + zoeken (v.) 'to seek'.
I am a researcher by neurodivergent nature. I seek under, between and below things, in order to make sense. I experience the lack of sense and the making of sense viscerally. Articulation is the process of making sense - the joining up. My research includes articulating into words and also images, it also includes finding what needs articulating and holding space for it.
Rewording Dictionary
What if we could be 'pro-solitude' instead of 'anti-social'? This is a project to clarify the ethics we carry in our language. I collect words in current use that need wider application, I create speculative words to show the possibilities, and I redefine words we currently use to show the implicit injustices they uphold.
Some entries from The Rewording Dictionary
Altered states – A human state of being where you feel and sense reality extremely differently to those around you. Alternate to medicalised and pathologised terms such as psychosis, mania etc. (Sources include Notes on the Mind, podcast with Rai Watlington, Mad in America blog etc.)
Jack-of-all-trades – A person who has many skills across a broad spectrum. They tend to interrelate and weave them together. This was the historical meaning of the phrase until ‘is a master of none, often times better than a master of one’ was added on – reflecting the disastrous trend towards specialisation. Alternative possibility Multipotentialite {Source: Jacky Bryant (my friend) and the history use.}
Resilience – A term used to make an individual responsible for their own survival under systemic injustices. Blaming the individual, our attention is turned away from systemic change.
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The project follows on from an older piece of work: Dictionary of Words We Need.
Neurodiverging
I began making images a few years ago, over time it began to show me how my neuro diverges from the typical. I could see a great yearning for articulation beyond words, a sense of wanting objects and images to speak. My process was to seek the work as I made it, rather than execute a plan. I "read" my work for meaning after its made. There are a few works below and an archive on youtube. I continue to play with my image @wardobeplaytime.
