Sarah Alger and Professor Paul Adams, Department of Visual Arts

I believe the best documentary photographs are those that evoke emotion and motivate people to take action. Although the Face of Autism project has only been displayed a few times so far, it has done both of these things. Furthermore, a website is currently being created to display the photographs and I am working on displaying the prints in more public galleries in the future.

The purpose of the Face of Autism project is to spread public awareness about the characteristics of autism through photographs and text. I hoped to maximize the effectiveness of this project displaying the photographs in public places and art galleries. Putting the exhibit in a public location such as an airport or a coffee shop would encourage the average person to learn about something they were not currently aware of. For example, most people are not aware that individuals with autism are hyper-sensitive. Common things such as brushing their teeth, cutting their hair, or going into a loud public place can be painful. Some examples of the photographs I used to explain this are below.

So far I have displayed or presented the Face of Autism in two locations. I displayed prints in a formal gallery in the Brigham Young University Harris Fine Arts Center main gallery. The opening night many of the viewers were the parents of the children I had photographed for the project. However, during the 2 weeks the project was displayed many students saw the exhibit that did not know much about autism. I had a journal that I left at the end of the display and some of the comments were from students expressing how much they had learned about autism. Those were the comments that meant the most to me because that is the type of impact this project is meant to have. Here are some photographs of the displays:

A professor heard about the Face of Autism project and invited me to come present it to a class of students majoring in special education at Brigham Young University. During the presentation I mentioned that at the orphanage I photographed at in El Salvador, Vladimir (the young man with autism I was documenting) did not have access to any type of occupational therapy. While the orphanage is doing the best they can, they do not have the materials or knowledge to teach Vladimir to communicate. Instantly several people in the room volunteered to help me create a PECS (Picture Exchange Communication System) book for him. PECS is book full of illustrations that those with severe autism who cannot verbally speak can use to communicate. This small project is growing and we are now working on creating PECS books for children with autism in orphanages in Romania as well! I had no idea when I began this project that it could have this kind of effect in directly improving the lives of those with autism.

Struggles I have encountered with this project were gaining information about the children with autism, raising money for prints, contacting my mentor, and finding places to display the exhibit. Over half of the children I photographed were able to speak and tell me first hand their experience with autism. The remainder of the children I photographed in the United States had a least one parent who could provide me with information. The young man in El Salvador was unable to speak to me and unfortunately the orphanage knew little about him. They did not even know his birth date or age and his birth parents were unreachable. This made it nearly impossible to gather information about him. Additionally, I am finding it hard to raise money to pay for the printing of the photographs. The ORCA grant able to pay for my travel expenses, however the cost of the prints exceeds the grant. I also struggled with getting a hold of my mentor for help. I couldn’t reach him via phone or email so I ended up planning my trip without his help. The biggest struggle I have had is finding locations to display the exhibit. Public areas have many restrictions and often the waiting list is long. Art galleries are a little easier and I have been invited to be a part of “Paint it Blue,” an art exhibit to raise money for autism research that will be held at the Salt Lake Museum of Art in April. I hope this gets the word out about the project and opens doors to more opportunities. I will continue to attempt to get this exhibit displayed and I am also in the process of making a website for an online display. I hope my continued efforts will get this project more attention and impact more lives.