Beth (she/they) is an artist and anthropologist in the latter stages of PhD research at the University of Sussex. Beth's current project explores the lived experience of neurodivergence, involving a core group of NHS service users; adults who, like Beth, received late neurodevelopmental diagnoses.

The residency makes space for multiple audiences to explore neurodivergence.

Initially, Beth will be inviting her research collaborators to work on a large-scale installation that weaves the group’s diverse experiences into a tangible artefact, grounding a subsequent ritual practice that will extend to somebody in their close circle.

The installation will be exhibited alongside artwork created during Beth’s research project, including two years of in-person and online art groups. All these works explore being-neurodivergent-in-the-world, speaking to intersectional experiences such as chronic illness and disability.

On Thursday 19 November (TBC this month), Beth will lead a public event aimed at artists, anthropologists, NHS colleagues and creative practitioners, to share the residency findings and learn more about neurodivergence by storytelling from a neurominority position.

Beth is designing all the events in ways that make space for experiential and embodied learning, whereby audiences are encouraged to understand neurodivergent experiences through ‘doing’ and ‘sensing’ rather than simply observing.

About The Artist

Beth is an artist and creative facilitator.

Beth initially studied Anthropology and Visual Practice at Goldsmiths, exploring ethnographic film and other sensory techniques before relocating to the University of Sussex where she completed with First-class honours in BA Anthropology (2020). Beth has continued their studies at Sussex, achieving a Distinction in MSc Social Research Methods (2022), now undertaking her Social Anthropology PhD titled ‘Being-neurodivergent-in-the-world: an embodied x sensory ethnography’.

Beth’s work can be understood as a form of socially engaged practice; practice that uses her artistic and facilitatory skills to give shape to experiences that are hard to put into words. Beth works in a person-centred way, an approach that extends to their work in the NHS.

While working in the Neurodevelopmental Service, Beth has worked on several NHS commissions, illustrating autistic experiences for projects directly relating to patient care. For the last two years, she has led creative initiatives for NHS staff and service users, something she reflected on in a recent NHS blog post.

Moving beyond illustration, the residency explores neurodivergence through the poetics of nature, using installation, performance and other techniques to reveal more about ‘being-neurodivergent-in-the-world’, treading new and exciting ground where anthropology meets the arts.