The Representation of Autistic Women Within the Photographic Medium - A Comparative Essay
The autistic female profile is deeply under-researched, and understanding of autistic women is developing and changing rapidly as the diagnostic criteria begin to change to accommodate females. Through the analysis of photographer Rosie Barnes’ project ‘No You’re Not’, and my own project ‘Unlike Normals’, this essay explores how our projects differ visually and contextually, the similarities amongst them, as well as some deliberations on other projects by, and about, autistic women. I look at autism, specifically in women, and how it affects a person's life, as well as representation of it within the arts.
My project ‘Unlike Normals’ is a photographic panegyric to the autistic life. It appears, at first, visually strange and rather interesting, however, contextually, the project explores struggles of living with autism, imposed by societal perceptions of individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). I wanted to visually document through abstract portraiture the understandings, feelings and perceptions of autistic people. My work largely focussed on the idea of masking, a behaviour utilised by many autistic people as a way to often ‘camouflage’ themselves into everyday life, appearing as allistic and likeable as possible. The title of my project, ‘Unlike Normals’, came from a paper I read in which autistic children were described as being ‘Unlike normals’ (Hirstein, Iversen and Ramachandran, 2001, pp.1883). My initial reaction to this was to question what that meant. Admittedly, the paper was rather outdated, having been from 2001, but in the context of time that’s not all that long, and I remained unconvinced that perceptions and understanding of autism had really come all that far. I decided to focus my project on autism to characterise the autistic life, and my own experiences as an autistic woman, through my own photography.
The project ‘No You’re Not’ by Rosie Barnes, showcases and voices the lives of those who she believed were underrepresented as autistic individuals. Barnes interviewed and photographed a multitude of autistic women, and aimed to document the experiences of those she felt were the ‘least likely to be believed to be autistic’ (Barnes). The project was called ‘No You’re Not’, as almost every woman that Barnes had spoken to had had this said to them. In a 2023 speech where she spoke about her work, Barnes said that she wanted people to
‘...understand the very real differences that they have been carrying with them throughout their lives, masking their true selves, to enable them to pass for ‘normal’ in a neurotypical society that has not acknowledged or supported them’ (Nationalgalleries, 2023).
In creating this work, Barnes thought that she might be able to create a ‘visual language’ (Nationalgalleries, 2023), as a way to reach out to people. When her son was diagnosed with autism at 3, there was not much understanding of it amongst the general public, and textbooks she had tried to read were not describing her son. She hoped that through this project she could reach out to people who ‘would never read the textbooks’ (Nationalgalleries, 2023) and even professionals who had a ‘wrong and mistaken understanding of autism’ (Nationalgalleries, 2023).
Whilst both works approached with different visual aesthetics, ‘No You’re Not’ concluded and contextualised the autistic experience very similarly to my project ‘Unlike Normals’. An important part of both projects is that they were created by autistic women, about the autistic experience. Life as an autistic person can differ greatly as a woman compared to that as a man. Women are often underdiagnosed, ‘there persists today this untruth that autism is unusual in women’ (Nationalgalleries, 2023). Four men are diagnosed with autism to every one woman (Bourson and Prevost, 2022) and Barnes declared this ‘simply not true’ (Nationalgalleries, 2023), continuing to say that ‘there might be four men to every one woman diagnosed, accepted and supported, but that’s a very different stat altogether’. I wanted to approach this project specifically with my own experiences in mind, as a woman who is autistic. I approached the idea of masking within my project, as this idea is tied very strongly to autism, and something which autistic women do quite often. As aforementioned, there is a great discrepancy in the number of diagnoses between men and women, largely because the female autistic profile has been observed to differ from that of a male autistic profile;
‘Whilst many authors report similar clinical profiles between male and female children with ASD, gender differences in the clinical presentation of the condition have been noted’ (Kirkovski, Enticott and Fitzgerald, 2013, pp.2586)
It is important to recognise that ‘an often cited explanation for the described differences in social interaction and friendships relates to the notion of increased social expectation being placed on females’ (Kirkovski, Enticott and Fitzgerald, 2013, pp.2586). Many women find it necessary to mask, in order to survive in an allistic world, however this often means many autistic women and girls go undiagnosed, as the diagnostic criteria is built around autistic boys. This is why I centred my project on masking, and also why Barnes project sought to interview the women she felt were most likely to not be believed.
Whilst the aesthetics of the projects are visually different, Barnes had a similar goal for her work as I did, saying that she ‘didn’t want people to think something, I wanted them to feel something’ (Nationalgalleries, 2023). This is how I approached my work, and why I took the visual route I did. I wanted my work to be met with an initial reaction of confusion, but for the audience of the work to feel it before they understood it. I think this is reflected in our work because we both had aligned goals, we both wanted to teach the world, and educate on what it is like to go through life as an autistic woman.
Visually, our projects are immediately strikingly different. The first thing I noticed about Barnes project was that you cannot immediately dissect that her project endeavours to document autistic women. Without reading the captions or scouring for additional information on the project, there are no immediate questions raised about the photographs. Her subjects sit somewhat center focus in frame, inviting questions of identity but arguably not much else. Barnes described these women as ‘hiding in plain sight’ (Nationalgalleries, 2023), an echo of the aesthetics of the portraits themselves. My project immediately invites a multitude of questions with few answers, however Barnes reflects on the hidden lives of these women. The captions she has put under each photograph engenders reflections on whether or not similar captions would benefit the reception and understanding of my own work, or whether even such additional information would be necessary or contribute in any considerable or meaningful way. Under each image, Barnes has described and named each woman, their occupation and a little about their background and their own thoughts on their lives as autistic women. These captions provide necessary missing contextual information that the viewer of these images might otherwise not be able to decipher, as the images themselves are intriguingly obfuscating.
I wanted my work to provoke feelings of confusion and disturbance. I wanted to perplex and invite questions, allowing the development of critical thought. I shot my photos in a studio, I used a white backdrop and I focussed my lighting carefully so that my subject was lit exactly as I wanted them to be. I wanted the image to feel slightly intriguing and uncertain, as that’s how it feels to be perceived as an autistic woman. On the contrary, Barnes images are like classic portraits, each woman that Barnes photographed sits or stands comfortably in their own space. She photographs the majority of these women in what looks to be their own homes; this alludes to the concept she spoke about, in which she feels these women are ‘hiding in plain sight’ (Nationalgalleries, 2023). We approached communicating our intent very differently, however I do feel it was equally successful.
Our images differ not just in a visual aspect, but contextually. Whilst the broad topography of our projects remain analogous, we began approaching the subject in different ways. My project ‘Unlike Normals’ didn’t initially begin as a reflection and digression into the lives and experiences of myself as an autistic woman, rather it started as a broad insight into autism. I think, over time, the entanglement of my own life as an autistic woman and the very nature of my project being one which reflects and draws on my own experiences, meant that my project began to morph into a representation of, largely, the female autistic experience. Barnes, however, went into this project reflecting solely on the experiences of autistic women. This rumination on the female autistic perception and experience began when she went to an autism support group. Barnes was co-running a parent support group, and she described that
‘the seed of ‘No You’re Not’ came from a conversation from within that group. One day a mum said… she started to think she might be autistic too, and there was a kind of silence. A quiet and palpable sort of shock’ (Nationalgalleries, 2023).
She regarded that moment as when she realised that ‘even in an autistic supportive setup, people didn’t realise women could be autistic too’ (Nationalgalleries, 2023). This difference in the beginning of our projects however, does not lessen the didacticism of each project as a commentary on the female autistic experience.
Barnes is not the only photographer to photographically converse on the lives of autistic women, Alice Poyzer is also developing an ongoing project entitled ‘Other Joys’, in which she explores and highlights her special interests and the ‘immense passion behind them’ (Poyzer, 2024). Special interests and restricted interests (RI’s) are common in autistic people, with studies perceiving ‘more severe RI’s among girls’ (Bourson and Prevost, 2022). On her website, Poyzer described creating the project as a safe space for her to ‘feel at ease and unmask’ (Poyzer, 2024). Poyzer’s project ‘Other Joys’ features butterflies, animal shows and taxidermy, all of which she describes as giving her an ‘intense feeling of euphoria and excitement’ (Poyzer, 2024). This project features a large variety of self portraits, posed amongst various items related to her special interests. This reflection on and of the self is important, and a similar approach to both mine and Barne’s work.
Female autistic representation in the photographic medium should be encouraged, as autistic women are underrepresented - not just in official statistics and medical diagnoses, but also within the arts. This expanded representation allows for a deepened understanding of a variety of experiences. Poyzer’s project is substantially impactful to me, as it is incredibly personal and such an intimate piece of work to make.
The female autistic profile is becoming more researched and understood as we move towards rapid advancements in diagnosis. We can expect to see a development in attitudes and understanding towards autism in women, and hopefully this shift will be reflected in the photographic topography. I believe engaging with works created by and about autistic women will change perspectives and allow for a more considered societal outlook when approaching topics like this. Photography can shift perspectives, and it is therefore important to acknowledge and understand differences so that we become more aware. Not all photography will be visually similar despite approaching similar topics, as I have discussed in this essay and I hope this broad approach to the subject allows for a wider reach. It is encouraging to see interest in these works, with Barnes being recognised for her project after winning the Taylor Wessing photographic portrait prize 2022, and more work from these communities should be recognised and appreciated thus forward.
Bibliography
Bourson, L. and Prevost, C. (2022) Characteristics of Restricted Interests in Girls with Asd Compared to Boys: A Systematic Review of the Literature. European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry (2024). 33, pp. 987-1004.
Kirkovski, M., Enticott, P.G. and Fitzgerald, P.B. (2013) A Review of the Role of Female Gender in Autism Spectrum Disorders. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders. 43, pp. 2584-2603.
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