Autistic photographer shows at Venice Biennale

Stephen Price

A 21 year old autistic photographer and digital artist from Llantrisant whose work portrays the way he sees the world is making waves across the art world – with one piece currently on display at the prestigious Venice Biennale.

Bug is the alias of rising star Euan Balman, and for most of his life people around him haven’t understood him, the world he lives in or the impact autism has on him.

After appearing on an episode of ITV Backstage, Bug received a grant from the Arts Council to develop a collection of works which he hopes can help people to understand how being autistic affects his everyday life.

Worldwide acclaim

The collection led to Bug’s first residency in a London gallery which has supported him to exhibit some of the pieces not only in the UK but also across Europe and in New York.

One of the pieces is currently showing in the Venice 60th Art Biennale which runs until the end of November. This work is part of a curated collection called the Path by the critically acclaimed Amy Jackson which powerfully represents marginalised groups and social justice.

Bug told Nation.Cymru: “I am very proud to represent Wales in this international collective. As an autistic person, I use my work to represent my world.

“Photography helps me to understand my surroundings by slowing things down, I then can develop these images by controlling the light, noise and power of the image. This is a much easier way for me to communicate.

“When I am out with my camera, I like to try and find the extraordinary in the ordinary”.

Standing Still

Standing Still is made up of 12 pieces of digital artwork, each telling part of his story reflecting his lived experience of autism.

They start from a photograph taken as part of an experience and become a visual representation of the emotions felt behind it through digital enhancement.

The collection launched at the Autistic Minds Live event in Cardiff on 24 September 2023, and individual art works have also been included in group exhibitions around the world.

Discussing this piece, Bug shared: “In my life I felt lost and confused with everything going on around me, I wasn’t sure what in my life was coming next.

“I used lights to make this, lights coming in all sorts of directions leading to bright light in the middle of the image to represent, an explosion or light at the end of the tunnel because I didn’t know what was coming next.”

Bug shared: “This piece of artwork was taken in the middle of Cardiff. People were walking around minding their own business.

“Everything around me is going too fast so I can’t identify people’s faces, and what’s going on around me. I wanted to make an image that is blurry and you can’t identify exactly what this is, or what’s going on while I was standing still.”

Bug shared: “Everyone is different and my experience as an autistic person means I find it hard to communicate how I feel in words. Standing still means, I feel lost in this world, standing still alone on my own with the world going on around me.

“Finding it hard to communicate with words, I use art to try and show how I feel living in this world. Using coping mechanisms like masking, I can hide what I’m actually feeling inside my head and body in social situations or when out in public, but it takes a huge amount of energy.

“This is why I wanted to create artwork to show what it’s like to live in my world. Each piece of artwork shows a certain situation I was or have been in, how I was feeling and what a person with autism might go through in this crazy hectic world.

“When I go out in public, I feel like I have to stand still a lot, to take in everything moving and going on around me. The lights, people talking, cars driving, dogs barking, clocks ticking, the smells of 100 different things, babies crying and footsteps all around me.

“I don’t feel real, I want to go inside my own space where I don’t have to worry what’s going to happen unexpectedly next.”

Bug’s work is a glimpse into his mind and experiences. Discussing Headless, he shared: “I was in Cardiff making this artwork hours before a Wales rugby game was on. It was packed with people walking around, excited, singing, talking to each other not bothered by what’s going on around them.

“Whereas I was confused, lost, taking so much in, all the noises, lights and smells. This image is from a group of friends walking past while I was ‘standing still.’

“I edited this like this because in this situation, I felt all confused about what’s going on around me, because of this I couldn’t take everything in around me.”

Bug told us: “Whenever I’m shopping, I feel overwhelmed. Whenever I’m on a field, I feel dizzy. Whenever I’m walking somewhere and I see something new, I feel scared.

“I feel wobbly, like everything is closing in on me, people, animals, cars, the world, the moon, mars and the whole galaxy and universe, I feel wobbly.”

When editing this art piece, Bug wanted to represent the experience of his panic attacks, meltdowns and experiences in public.

He said: “Heart pace electrifying like I’m dying, I feel everything going on around me is in this moment in time and I’m frozen, with my heart beating fast to try and survive with everything on red alert”

Bug’s work most often reflects his experiences of autism. He said: “When making this piece of artwork I was in a dark tunnel with my camera and torch, and was thinking about the many times I couldn’t fully understand what people were talking about, like when I’ve worked on a film set or in school.

“Being distracted with what all sorts is going on around me, like people talking. I was trying to make letters all messed up with a dark background because when this happens I feel enclosed because I’m concentrating so hard on what the person is saying. But all I hear is “uhvrjfmifkhgntirjmk.”

Honour

Bug told us: It is such an honour to have my work displayed in many of these galleries across Europe and New York.

“My latest piece of work ‘Fuzzy Feeling” is currently being shown in an exhibition called The Path, which is part of a social justice piece curated by Amy Jackson in the Palaazzo Pisani – Revedin in Venice, Italy until the third of November.

“This is the latest exhibition which has seen my work displayed in the holy art and artist in residence Boomer gallery in London.

“My work was shown in an immersive tour taking it around Europe- Brussels, Amsterdam and Paris. Also my art piece ‘red alert’ which is part of my standing still collection has been in New York, Times Square.

“I feel very proud and excited to get my works out, showing how autism makes me see the world. My aim is to use my work to move the understanding of autism and neurodiverse people forward. I believe there is no normal just differences in thinking.

“All my work starts with me going out with my camera and using everyday experiences to explore all the information that bombards my brain at once.

“I use colour, movement and exposure to control the story so that my images represent the extraordinary found within the ordinary.”

Find more of Bug’s work here.