Laura Hughes

Leeming Senior High School

Year 12

Coloured pencil on board

Diptych – 25 x 20 x 4.5 cm

Autistic and ADHD individuals often struggle with emotional regulation and interception. They can find it difficult to identify their emotions. However, autistic people feel things deeply, meaning they feel intense happiness but also intense negative emotions. ‘The Swell’ explores my experience with a build-up of negative emotions. It gets to a point that they need to be released, but you have no idea how. This can lead to self-harming behaviour or other destructive impulses in the heat of the moment. My fingers clawing at my skin represent how it feels to experience these emotions.