The Lines Between: Relational Subjectivities and the Practice of Observational Drawing

Abstract

I suggest that language can lock us into rigid and predefined models of relationship, and may prevent versions of ourselves from coming into being. I suggest that in a social context that privileges verbal communication, people with learning disability can be positioned in a discourse of representation depicting them as passive and dependent. Drawing opens a space for non-discursive subjectivities to be explored in the context of relationship. I illustrate these ideas with a vignette of my time spent in a community with adults with learning disability and communication difficulties, whilst also drawing on my experience of working for organisations that support adults with learning disability.