I’m Susmitha Gadiyar,
mother of Siddharth who is a young man of 20 who has Autism, severe learning
difficulty, speech and language impairment, Epilepsy, ADHD, PDD and challenging
behaviours.
Siddharth (Sid)
has always had a creative streak and knack for music and sports.
Sid has always
liked to draw and colour on paper, books and magnetic doodle board ever since
he was in nursery but his interest in painting started about 4-5 years ago.
We couldn’t
find any studio space in Brighton that could meet Sid’s high care needs and that
lead us to look outside of Brighton. This is how we discovered Project artworks
(PAW) in Hastings.
This interest
has flourished and grown from strength to strength at PAW over the
last year, where he makes big, bold, vibrant and beautiful pieces of work that
we never realised he was capable of. This is highly therapeutic for Sid in his
otherwise chaotic and extremely challenging world of Autism.
PAW is an amazing place that provides Sid with a bespoke service and an
environment to suit and meet his very high care needs and hence he is very
happy, calm and focused during his time there. It is indeed a very special and
happy space for Sid.
In one piece by
Sid, which is my personal favourite and more importantly one of the most
touching moments of my life, he wrote "Siddharth love mummy" all over
the painting. It was the first time ever
that he has conveyed that message to me in words and using art as a medium. I post all of
Sid’s beautiful art work on his Facebook art
page. He is currently
having his first solo art exhibition!
The paintings
Sid makes are between 6-12 feet long and 6-12 feet wide. He does these in 2
hours straight without any prompts or breaks and is totally self-taught! Are you or children into painting, if so how are you finding it?
