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Imagining new accessible worlds
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Re•Storying Autism ‘In’ Difference / Autistic, Surviving and Thriving Under COVID-19

Art Exhibition

September 9, 2022–October 21, 2022

Tangled Art + Disability

The Re•Storying Autism Collective is a group of Autistic artists, makers, researchers, students, and critical allies. We gather online to cultivate Autistic community, create activist art, and co-research on the Re•Storying Autism project. The Collective challenges the dominant biomedical view of Autism as a disorder, and of Autistic lives as hopeless.

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In the early days of COVID-19, the Collective held an eight-week virtual workshop on digital zine-making. This initiative was fueled by a desire to resist the isolation within a chaotic pandemic world, and to imagine Autistic futures where historically silenced neurodivergent voices re-shape the world in radically affirming ways.

Autistic participants from across Canada gathered online to share their experiences. Autistic facilitators from the Collective contributed to a supportive, accessible, creative incubator environment that helped participants bring their stories to life. Critical ally Tara Bursey worked with each maker to translate their digital zines into print.

The two large images that are part of this installation are from zines by Em Farquar-Barrie (at the top of this poster), and Venus Underhill (large fabric print).

The zines and images are presented within a textile installation made by Kat Singer. The spectrum of bright colors celebrates Autistic joy and resilience. The meticulously crafted “sensory strings” represent divergent thinking, creativity, and the interconnectedness of all beings and things.

The front of an exhibition is showcased by a wall of shelves covered in strings and a doorway covered by a curtain.
On the left, a wall of shelves is covered by a nearly transparent blue and purple-colored cloth. There are strings hanging from the top of the wall in colors transitioning from blue to purple. To the right, a wall holds a few paragraphs of text explaining the exhibition, with the title “Autistic, Surviving and Thriving Under COVID-19: Imagining Inclusive Autistic Futures.” Further right is a doorway covered by a black curtain.
A display with various zines displayed on a wall made from shelves. The shelves have a rainbow-colored semi-transparent drape in front.
A display consisting of 9 rows and 10 columns of white shelves. They are covered by a thin, semi-transparent drape in rainbow colors. The third and fourth rows from the bottom of shelves are not covered and are a reflective gold color. On these shelves are various zines propped up by stands. Each shelf has one zine occupying it. There are strings hanging on the shelves from above also in rainbow colors. High in the center of the shelves is a paper with colorful cutout letters spelling out “Autistic, surviving and thriving under COVID-19.” To the right is a doorway interrupting the shelf wall, with a cutout displaying a black and white alleyway with characters in it, and the head of a clown-like figure at the top.
A close-up of a black and white cutout featuring a clown-like face sitting in front of a black curtain.
A close-up cutout of a black and white clown-like person. Their head is disembodied, and the only thing that can be seen other than their face is part of the neck of their clothes. They are smiling, inside their mouth are the words “CUT OUT” capitalized. These words are also inside of their eyes, which have no pupils. The head is attached to the rest of a cutout, which displays part of a building, although it is cut-off. Behind the cutout is a black curtain.
A wall of shelves with various zines displayed on it.
A wall of shelves covered by a thin, multicolored drape going from red on the left, to yellow in the center, to green on the right. Center frame is a white sheet with colorful cutout letters spelling out “Autistic, surviving and thriving under COVID-19.” There are colorful strings hanging from the top. The bottom shelves are a gold color, and have various zines displayed on them, one per shelf.
Two golden-colored shelves sit on a wall above each other, more shelves being cut-offscreen. A blue panel with instructions in yellow text is on the left.
Two golden-colored shelves sit on a wall above each other, more shelves being cut-offscreen. A blue panel with instructions in yellow text is on the left. It reads: “Please Touch! The zines on the bookshelves are for touching and sensing. Enjoy. Please replace them carefully when you are done.

You can also:

touch the sensory strings surrounding the zines (please do not pull)

browse the physical copies of zines on the table

scan the QR code to browse and access image descriptions online

Zines (pronounced ZEEN) are do-it-yourself art magazines. Learn more about them on our project website: www.restoryingautism.com/tangled.”
Golden shelves display zines, one per shelf.
Two rows of golden shelves each hold one stand with a zine displayed on it. There are red and yellow strings hanging from above the shot.
A zine is propped up and displayed on a golden-colored shelf. It depicts a human/animal hybrid doing various things.
A zine is propped up and displayed on a golden-colored shelf. There is a black artist tag on the left wall of the shelf, noting the work as “Untitled” by Lucabean. It is digital printing on paper, has 2 pages, and measures 8.5” by 11”. It was made in 2020. The zine displays drawings of a human/animal hybrid sitting at a desk, looking at a frame, and sitting on a swing. There is handwritten text throughout the cover, saying “With covid-19, many things have changed for a lot of people.

However, for me, nothing much has changed.

I still stay at home as usual.

I still draw as usual

I still go to the park as usual”.
A zine is propped up and displayed on a golden-colored shelf. It depicts smoke rising on a black background.
A zine is propped up and displayed on a golden-colored shelf. There is a black artist tag describing the work on the left wall of the shelf, noting the work as “AUTISM/COVID” by Mandy Klein. It is an accordion book, digitally printed on cardstock measuring 8” by 6”. It was made in 2020-2021. On the black cover, an image of smoke rises from below. On top, the word “COVID” in bright red letters is slightly slanted, and below, the word “AUTISM” in the same format is slanted and upside-down.
A zine is propped up and displayed on a golden-colored shelf. It depicts a black and white scene with leafless trees and the figure of a person.
A zine is propped up and displayed on a golden-colored shelf. There is a black artist tag describing the work on the left wall of the shelf, noting the work as “Where Did Everyone Go?” by Em Farquhar-Barrie. It is screen and digital printing on paper and is bound by staples. The zine is 12 pages long, and measures 5.5” by 8.5”. It was made in 2020-2021. On the cover, a scene with leafless trees and a person’s figure is split by black and white backgrounds.
A zine is propped up and displayed on a golden-colored shelf. It depicts pictures of various people on a black background.
A zine is propped up and displayed on a golden-colored shelf. There is a black artist tag describing the work on the left wall of the shelf, noting the work as “Autistic Unmasking in the Time of Covid-19” by Venus Underhill. It is a screen printing and digital printing on paper and vellum, hand-stitched with saddle. It is 20 pages long, and measures 8.5” by 11”. It was made in 2020-2021. The black cover has pictures of various people bundled towards the bottom right, and the title in small white letters in the top left corner.
A zine is propped up and displayed on a golden-colored shelf. It depicts the definition of a metaphor along with some other text.
A zine is propped up and displayed on a golden-colored shelf. There is a black artist tag describing the work on the left wall of the shelf, noting the work as “Autism in Metaphors” by Jennifer Fehr. It is a digital printing on paper and is bound by staples. It is 8 pages long, and measures 8.5” by 11”. It was made in 2020. The white cover is gridded like notetaking paper. At the top, in large red, yellow, and grey letters, is the title. Below, the pronunciation of the word “metaphor” is explained. Below are a couple of paragraphs in black text saying “An expression, often found in literature, that describes a person or object by referring to something that is considered to have similar characteristics to that person or object.

While Autistic people tend to prefer clear, literal language, neurotypicals often use figurative, comparative language. With that in mind, here are some metaphors to help the neurotypical in your life (or perhaps even you) understand the Autistic mind.”
A zine is propped up and displayed on a golden-colored shelf. It depicts a background of blurred bubbles with a purple unicorn and a rainbow in the foreground.
A zine is propped up and displayed on a golden-colored shelf. There is a black artist tag describing the work on the left wall of the shelf, noting the work as “Covid Bubbles & The Accessible Revolution” by Emily Gillespie. It is digital printing on paper and is staple bound. It is 12 pages long, and measures 8.5” by 11”. It was made in 2020-2021. The cover is light blue, with blurred white bubbles covering most of it. At the bottom are a purple unicorn and a rainbow. Above them is a cluster of pink hearts, and above those is the title in black text. Above the title are two black-outline clouds.
A zine is propped up and displayed on a golden-colored shelf. It depicts the figure of a person overlaying text.
A zine is propped up and displayed on a golden-colored shelf. There is a black artist tag describing the work on the left wall of the shelf, noting the work as “Atypical” by Anonymous. It is digital printing on paper and is clip-bound. It is 6 pages long, and measures 8.5” by 11”. It was made in 2020. The cover has rows like notetaking paper, with printed text on top. Overlaying the text is a drawing of a blurred silhouette of a person. Bolded text at the top says, “LIVING AT AN ANGLE.” The text below says “Unable to read any non-verbal

facial cues when people have

masks on

COVID-19 leads to even more isolation

for neuro-divergent people

Online education doesn’t allow the

Opportunity to pick up on social cues that

autistic people usually rely on in person

The unpredictability of public health

Guidelines and abrupt changes in routine are challenging to manage

Special education classes are being separated

from the standard education system due to

the pandemic we have lost decades of

inclusivity progress

Neuro-divergent people have asked for online

forms of education for years and were

ignored. Now that it is a necessity for the

majority of neuro-typical people, education

options are being implemented easily”.
A zine is propped up and displayed on a golden-colored shelf. It depicts a comic of a person speaking through a screen.
A zine is propped up and displayed on a golden-colored shelf. There is a black artist tag describing the work on the left wall of the shelf, noting the work as “Untitled” by Rose Bisk. It is digital printing on paper, is 4 pages long, and measures 8.5” by 11”. It was made in 2020. The cover is formatted like a comic. The title and author are written in black text at the top. Below is a comic depicting a conversation between a person at a computer and a person on the computer screen.
A small, knitted, cup-shaped container sits on a cloth surface. The container is filled with small plastic objects and has a sign next to it saying “Thank you for visiting us! Help yourself to a small souvenir!”
A small, knitted, cup-shaped container sits on a blue cloth surface to the left of the frame. Inside the container is a bunch of small, plastic pill trays in different colors. Next to it, to the right, is a small, dark blue sign with the white text “Thank you for visiting us! Help yourself to a small souvenir!” with a small text bubble to the right saying, “Stim Freely!”
A front display for the exhibit “Re•Storying Autism ‘In’ Difference / Autistic, Surviving and Thriving Under COVID-19." It features a wall holding a shelf with various objects on it and a TV screen playing a video.
A white wall behind a glass display has a shelf mounted on the left, a TV screen in the center, and some words printed on the right. The shelf has a calendar and some colorful blocks on it. The TV screen shows two hands reaching for a small orange ball. On the right is the name of the exhibit, “Re•Storying Autism ‘In’ Difference / Autistic, Surviving and Thriving Under COVID-19.” Underneath, a summary and date are written in smaller type: “A zine and video exhibit by the Re•Storying Autism Collective / Project, September 9 – October 21.”
A shelf with small colorful blocks on it.
A white shelf is mounted onto a white wall. It has colorful blocks on it, each one is red, blue, yellow, and white, partitioned by straight, diagonal lines. On the left of the shelf is a calendar, with a date marked by a red square. In the center, four blocks sit with random placement. On the right, a black cardboard box sits upright with five blocks inside of it.
A TV monitor displaying two blue hourglasses being held on top of each other.
A black TV monitor is mounted on a white wall behind glass. The screen displays two blue hourglasses being held on top of each other by hands. The background of the scene is a light gray.
A TV monitor displaying a group of children.
A black TV monitor is mounted on a white wall behind glass. The screen displays a group of four children with their hands up. Behind them is an adult person. All the people in the scene have their hands painted purple, except for the child in from of the group, who has their hands painted yellow instead. Subtitles in white text say, “We are learning different ways to encourage Michael to engage”.
A television screen with a watercolour painting of a person
A television screen featuring a watercolour painting of a person wearing a blue sweater and tan hat. They appear to be lying down. Cursive text below the person reads “Test is the afterthought of experience”. The television is mounted on a white wall. From Re•Storying Autism “In”Difference/Autistic, Surviving and Thriving Under COVID-19. A zine and video exhibit by the Re•Storying Autism Collective/Project.

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