The Suzie Cappa Art Center in Rapid City is featuring a variety of art work for the holidays. Their Christmas Art Night opened the gallery over the weekend. One of the artists uses his work to show the world what it’s like to live with autism.
People crowded around the walls of the Suzie Cappa Art Center taking in the diverse collections of work. Ethan Engel stood near his series, created with stretched muslin fabric that had letters carved and burnt into it in reverse. Engel explains his art.
“For the iconography of the work, this muslin fabric is like the color flesh of my skin. And then the burn marks are like the psychological wounds that have been delivered from my peers. From the tough times to you know, from my perspective of struggling what I live for,” says Engel.
He says the reversed letters represent his struggle with processing and challenge the viewer to understand how it affects him by having to decipher them.
“People don’t even know what this disability is about because it’s such a complex disorder. I try to keep this as a positive imagery even though through these letters they do have the past that I struggle with and the vulnerability of it as well,” Engel says.
He says his series is like his journal. He includes his experiences and other’s perspectives on autism. He started working on his first piece to the series last summer.
“When I started this process I will admit I did have some mixed emotions with this series. But as I was thinking from time to time I was like you know People need to know this. They need to know how people live with this behavior and how not to judge them in every way. I mean we’re all different and that’s just what makes us the same,” says Engel.
He considers himself a working artist. He says he’s currently looking at options for grad school plans to evolve his series to include future experiences.