“These drawings are part of a much larger project, ‘Drawing as Stimming’. Stimming is movement that can be reassuring and is body-based. As a neurodiverse artist, my own stimming can involve shaking hands and helps me to regulate my mood. Some of my work has been about legitimising stimming as a valid form of communication. I am interested here in visual empathy: the ability to read the physicality of the body through artwork.”

Sam is an interdisciplinary inspired by movement. Sam’s work researches, creates and reflects on the concept of what they refer to as ‘choreographic objects. A ‘choreographic object’ is any work Sam creates that has, through the process of making or in the way it looks, a relationship to the body and movement. 

As a neurodivergent artist with sensory processing differences, the objects allow Sam to work in non-verbal ways, which is a key part of their practice. As an artist with an unpredictable body (due to both Tourette’s and the disability EDS, a connective tissue disorder) the creation of visual, sculptural objects for choreography and alternative forms of notation have allowed the artist alternative methods of communication with artists. 

Sam studied Architecture and Critical Theory (philosophy) at University of Nottingham and had previously trained in physical theatre, they currently work out of the Makerspace in Hull.  Sam is currently developing practice as research supported by a Research Grant (Inclusive Curation) at Sustainability Health Environment Development (S-H-E-D) and Necessity and British Art Network. Previously their research into Drawing as Stimming was supported by a Jerwood bursary.