Michelle Quinton 18th May 2024 Projects
This project is called ND Passions, it focuses on people who are considered or consider themselves, neurodivergent. This phrase is often misunderstood, with many assuming it only refers to Autism or ADHD, but neurodiversity is so much more than that. For this post we're spending a couple of hours with Melanie, she's Dyslexic and her passion is cross-stitching, I have to say, when she said that I did not expect the level of detail she goes into. They are some beautiful pieces, I've included one or two photos below that Melanie kindly shared with me.
These pieces take her a long time, she showed me a beautiful piece that would have looked right at home on sale in Past Times (that's a compliment if you're unsure, it was one of my favourite shops). It's important to me that the person sitting for me is relaxed, so we chat, it's what I do, and we talked a lot, about a wide variety of things. Within that though was a natural progression to discussing our own neurodiversity, like Melanie, I am also Dyslexic and we found ourselves recognising our coping mechanisms in each other and of course how we're both visual learners.
Melanie is not overly comfortable in front of the camera, but that's okay because my preferred way of working focuses on relaxing the subject, talking to them and engaging them in a conversation stops them thinking about the camera. This is the first set from that chat, I'll update later with more, and possibly a statement or quote from Melanie if she wants to share her thoughts or feelings.
