Drawing Autism

Hayden Robinson

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7 min read

Photo of an attractive blonde woman wearing glasses looking lovingly at her dog. She is sitting at a table to write in a journal. There is a second photo to the bottom left of an animal. On its fur says Super soft dog fur. There is an illustrated character what looks like it is running its hands over the fur. Text reads: Matalonga Jorge (she/her) is a Portuguese visual artist, landscape architect, and special education teacher. Although she only found out about being neurodivergent during the summer of 2022, with a diagnosis of autism and ADHD, she has always used art as her outlet and her therapy. Matalonga’s first memory of making art goes all the way back to when she was an infant. “Since I can remember,” she told us, “I have always loved to draw as a way to understand everything that I see. When I am drawing, I also like to feel the tactile connection between the gesture and the mark that the gesture leaves on the surface of the support.” Her art career began at age sixteen when a stranger loved her watercolors and wanted to buy them. From there, the rest is history.

Photo of an artwork by Matalonga. It has a black background, is spherical and made up of small dots and circles. It is made of the colors yellow and white.

Artwork of an illustrated bird. It is mostly white with a brown-gold chest and part of it's face. It looks to be standing on lines that are a branch. Text reads: A time when this came forefront was during 2021. She worked for a luthier as a painter, “where I had to paint on harpsichord motifs like plants, insects, birds and ornaments with egg tempera made with natural pigments.” A job like that intertwines the different approaches she has to her special interests. Whether she is in a career focused on the management and nurturing of built and natural environments, or she is focused on pouring out an imagination fueled by the world around her, Matalonga’s love for nature is always front and centre. Experimentation is a key factor in Matalonga’s art. She told us, “I think it is good to make new experiments with different materials, not only to learn new ways of graphic expression but also to not get bored doing the same thing. I think that’s why I have so many different styles, because I am always exploring to find my way at each moment of my life.”

Artwork of green illustrated rose heads against a soft white background. Text reads: One such material is gouache, a paint made from substances in water-soluble gum and a white pigment to make it opaque. A post that presents her working with gouache was made as part of the 100-Day Project this year. She experiments with gouache along with watercolor and wax to create a piece called Black Thursday. This appears to be a bright yellow light that she brushes over with black paint. This video, like many others, grips the viewer into how she works with careful precision and a focused imagination.As mentioned, Matalonga has posted as part of the 100-Day Project. This is a free online global endeavor where artists commit one hundred days to a creative project and share their process on social accounts using the hashtag #The100DayProject. The event is a wonderful example of openness to creativity and progress, similar to events such as National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), a global writing project where authors write a book in thirty days. Throughout 2023, Matalonga has posted on her social media accounts about participating in the 100-Day Project. Of course, such a huge undertaking isn’t easy. In Matalonga’s case, she has mixed feelings about taking part. “At the beginning,” she said, “it was a way to relax and make different drawings that helped me to recover from my working day.

Artwork of an illustrated soft pink shell. Text reads: The 100 Day Project was not without its positives. She explains that it gave her the opportunity to see her emotions in a different way because the daily experiments enabled her to express a variety of feelings from everyday life, far easier than talking or writing them down. Another upside to such a pressure-filled project is Matalonga’s connections with other autistic artists. She invited one of them to a show with her on an online gallery; another is working with Matalonga on a collaborative artwork. Her current project is an online gallery exhibition named Unmasking the Abstract, opening on July 29th. This is a collaboration between herself and @theartist.dm (Instagram). From looking at each other’s work, it is sure to be a truly sensational event. Early access to the exhibition is on July 22nd for subscribers to Matalonga’s website - www.matalongajorge.com.

Artwork of a blue bird. It's wings are made of blue flowers. Text reads: She has a Masters degree in Visual Arts Teaching and another in Special Education; this has led to her helping students with learning problems and developmental disorders. She explains that it “fills my heart with joy to see how grateful the students are when I am helping them. I also like the strong connection that we create with them.” This strong connection influences her own artwork, and she admits a recent project using gouache was inspired by a class she taught.

Photo of Matalonga, a white woman with long blonde hair, on the beach drawing sand art in the sand close to the water. Text reads: What does all of this mean for Matalonga Jorge as an autistic artist? Perhaps it is her connection to her work and with other autistic artists that allow her to know more about herself. To her, an artist is a person who creates something that resonates with the audience, one who shares deep emotions not only with honesty, but with a well-structured composition. “Neurodivergent artists,” she says, “express their own way of seeing the world, and that is a way for neurotypicals to better understand and accept the differences between us and also understand that together we can go further in so many aspects of our lives.” With these words and the art she puts out there, Matalonga encourages neurodivergent artists to express themselves and to take their work seriously whilst trying new experiments. So what is the next move for Matalonga Jorge? Well, she has mentioned a desire to illustrate her own stories, inspired by the illustrations she saw when reading books to her children. As mentioned, her work creates a visual narrative, suitable for books and illustrations. “Maybe,” she says, “I will make one day a silent book, only with images.” Given the experimental beauty and eloquent composition Matalonga Jorge brings to her work, there is no doubt that her silent book will be something spectacular.

Visit Matalonga's website here, and continue to enjoy her work on her Instagram account - @drawing_autism.

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