There’s something otherworldly about the artworks that have emerged from the High VisAbility project. Amidst oceanic washes of vivid colour, figures and creatures loom like ghosts or spirits, some animalistic, some humanoid, some alien-looking.
 

The longer you peer into the layers of charcoal, ink, pen and paint, the more you’ll discover in these technicolour works, created by students of Sir David Brand School (SDBS), aged 4–18 years, in collaboration with artists Mandy White and Natalie Scholtz, and artist/creative producer Tegan Jenkins.

Devised by CAN’s Michelle White, High VisAbility is a project that enriches and empowers students with disabilities by giving them the opportunity to collaborate with professional artists to create artwork that is exhibited in public galleries. Presented collaboratively by CAN and SDBS, the project's first iteration culminated, initially, with a pop-up exhibition at PICA as part of the 2024 AWESOME Festival.

Following the pop-up, a more expansive exhibition will be presented at FORM Gallery, 15 January - 8 February 2025. The magical works described above are just a taste of what you will see at the High Visibility exhibition, which promises to be a vibrant and playful exploration of identity, place and visibility.
 

From April to July 2024, Students at SDBS attended weekly workshops with Mandy, Natalie and Tegan. The creative process offered those students opportunities to work with a variety of media, such as pencil, charcoal, crayons, Posca pens and acrylic paints. To explore each student artist’s tactile strengths and capabilities, the lead artists came up with a range of options for expression, such as attaching mark-making tools to the end of long bamboo sticks to extend students’ reach, and providing various mark-making tools for students to roll, stamp, smoosh, scratch, spray, or rub into the canvas.

Perhaps the most exciting element of the project, for both student artists and professional artists, was the creation of silhouettes of the student artists. In a project that is about opening up possibilities for students with disabilities, these silhouettes captured that spirit, celebrating each young person as a moving body with contours that dance on the canvas. Watching the students engage with light and shadow, the elation that they found in the autonomy of not just making a line but being a line was palpable.

Heavily informing the design concept of the project, the silhouettes are also symbolic of another important feature of High VisAbility. While the colour palette and media were provided by the artistic team, it was the students’ interests and strengths that directed the creative process.

Creative co-lead Mandy White was vital to High VisAbility. An award-winning and prolific artist, she demonstrated to the students, in real time, that there are pathways into the arts for people with disabilities.

But the rapport that Mandy built with the students is about more than just their shared lived experience of disability. Her playful elasticity and empathy enable her to respond to the students’ needs with ease, both artistically and emotionally. It’s no wonder that the students related so enthusiastically to Mandy, and to her work.

For Mandy, the project provided the opportunity to step into the role of mentor, and it was a joy to watch her confidence build as she spread her wings and flourished in this role. At a personal level, Mandy and her sister Michelle lost their dad during the project, and the workshops provided a form of respite from her grief.

Watching the students blossom was also been a joy.

We saw students who didn’t even have the confidence to pick up a pencil in the first workshop, run into the room and jump straight into the silhouette activity by the third. One student began the project insisting that he couldn’t draw, that it was his brother who was the artist. He proved to be a magnificent maker, and bloomed under the encouragement of Mandy, Natalie and Tegan.

Another student was identified as a talented artist and model-maker and was mentored one-on-one by artist and animator Jake Carlshausen. Together they created a stop-motion animation for the exhibition using collected artworks made by the student artists during the program.

There were so many moments of surprise during this project, but one of the greatest was the quality of the work, which is so high that it’s hard to believe it’s the work of children. We can’t wait to share the results of High VisAbility with you in January!

Bold, bright and boundless, the High VisAbility exhibition will take place 15 January – 8 February 2025 at FORM Gallery, 4 Shenton Rd, Claremont. Thank you FORM Gallery & Cafe for being so wonderful to work alongside and to the Town of Claremont for supporting this event. 

Update | FORM Gallery opening event Thursday 15 January.

High VisAbility’s collaborative, site-specific multimedia artwork was revealed at a beautiful celebration of the High VisAbility exhibition.

Created by seven outsider artists, this spirited and vibrant work is packed with quirky and mysterious creatures and characters whose colours bloom and pop out of the darkness. 

This joyful piece of art transformed FORM’s gallery space and is is only temporary for this exhibition. We’re delighted that it has been beautifully documented by photographer Edwin Sitt. The High VisAbility site specific work was created by Mandy White, Greg Barr, Matthew Clark, Chantelle Jackman, Bec Johnston, Hannah Valenti and Angelina Kell and facilitated by Natalie Scholtz and Tegan Jenkins.

Massive thanks to everyone who came down to FORM Gallery to celebrate High VisAbility with us. Here are some gallery-style photographs of the evening.

Pictured top: A detail of an artwork at the High VisAbility pop up exhibition at PICA // credit Edwin Sitt