Exhibition B
Emotion

An art experience referencing,
the interpretation of emotion by 5 artistic autistics.

^ Made for the teacher

About the emotional experience of autistics

- 4 art pieces

- Made by 4 different artists

- 1 hour estimated visit for this space

- Topic: Emotional Experience

- Some works are very stimulating

- Some works refer to intense experience or topic

- The collection aims to share truthful stories

-- The collection is not censored

- Support services available

- Simple routing (see map ------------------------------>)

- Decompressing room (see map -------------------->)

<--- Read details at 'About Exhibit A...'

- More information about the artworks below

Emotional Experience (art pieces)

What to expect

Map of exhibit B - Emotion

Expend by Prue Stevenson
One canvas of 12 meters
Video of the performance

Masking and Bad Dream
by Nihilivonne

Worries at Night by Alice Farion
From the series 'University'
Inking Autism

Happy Stimming
by Selena Marchetti

The art-pieces in 'Exhibit B - Emotion' are inspired by the emotional experiences of autistic artists. The artists have used this topic to show how they experience it.

Everybody has emotions every day. Autistic people can have a different or unique experience of their emotions. Many autistics have a condition named Alexithymia, which makes it hard recognize and name what they are feeling. This can make daily life difficult, if you do not know how you feel or how to communicate this to others, misunderstandings easily happen. To learn to recognise feelings some autistics use a 'Feelings wheel'.

Other autistic people are very emotional and know exactly how they are feeling. They might feel their emotions very intensely and because many autistics focus on detail, small things can trigger big emotions. They can experience extreme happiness ('Autistic joy'), but also experience extreme sadness or depression.

The difficulties in everyday life autistic people experience, with communicating, misunderstanding, being bullied or left out. The expectations of society, people, job, and life in general while dealing with all the stimuli. Living in a world that is not built for autistic people to thrive can cause significant moods and can trigger meltdowns, shutdowns and even long-term anxiety and depression.

Nihilivonne is a multimedia artist who makes politacal, emotional, and performative art. Many of their works are reactions to societal and political structures and the inequality, ruining and isolating nature of these.

The works exhibited are two 2D pieces.

Masking is a 20 cm x 22 cm etch. Exploring the feeling of having to mask as an autistic person. Wearing a mask, pretending to be a neurotypical to 'pass' as normal. To not be isolated and bullied. Masking and camouflaging their true autistic nature can heavily impact the mental health of an individual. As it costs lots of energy pretending to be someone else.

Prue Stevenson is an artist exploring autistic culture, an making art to make autism more accepted and visible in this world and society.

Expend is a large human-scale painting created through a process of mark-making with feet using axe-kicks, a kick used in Taekwondo. This artwork is about the process of expending excess energy, or 'self-regulating'. The painting itself is a byproduct of this energy expenditure.

“When young, autistic people are often taught out of their natural tendencies to self-regulate.”

They are taught that it is not 'normal', or in other terminology 'appropriate', to self-regulate in public spaces. They are taught to have 'quiet hands'. Where self-regulation is recognised as a valid need it is channelled into arenas such as sports or martial arts, where it is socially acceptable to kick and scream.

For many autistics these arenas (if they can access them) remain the only socially acceptable places to expend excess energy, a process necessary to prevent autistic meltdowns.

Inking Autism is the place where Alice Farion shows her drawings. The artist mostly uses the colors black and white, to express her experience and emotions regarding being autistic in certain situations.

In her series 'University' she expresses the feelings of being in university, the worries at night that haunt her.

She uses art and drawing to selfregulate, express and experience her emotions. To give them a place.

For many autistics stimming is an important part of self-regulation and emotional-regulation. But stimming can also be a way to express feelings or to feel a certain emotion. The drawings by Selena Marchetti are a visual representation of Happy Stimming.

By knowing your stims or the stims of another autistic you might be able to recognise a sense of what they are feeling.

Here the Autistic Joy of what the bliss of stimming can be is clearly shown.


Selena Marchetti draws digitally, and works as a storyboard maker.

Find out more about the artist in the sources below:

Find out more about the artist in the sources below:

Find out more about the artist in the sources below:

Find out more about the artist in the sources below:

Entrance via hall through curtaindoorway into exhibition space B - Emotion

B1 - Two art prints, 'Masking' and 'Bad Dream' by Nihilivonne
Hanging horizontally next to eachtother

B2 - A piece of canvas 2.5 meters long from the performance 'Extend' by Prue Stevenson
And a video of the performance 'Extend' to watch on the poufs with headphones

B3 - One artprint of 'Worries at night' by Alice Farrion
Hanging on the wall

B4 - Two artprints of 'Happy Stimming' by Selena Marchetti
Hanging horizonally next to eachother

The middle exists of beanbags on a soft rug,
from here you can look at the artpieces and make yourself comfortable.

Exit the space into the decompression space in the lower right corner, here you can relax on beanbags,
adjust the lights to your preference and take some sensory rest before going into the next exhibit.