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About Atypical Gallery:
Showcasing artwork by disabled and deaf artists since 1993, Atypical Gallery is the only permanent exhibition space on the island of Ireland dedicated specifically to highlighting the work of disabled and D/deaf artists.
Atypical Gallery provides a welcoming, accessible environment for both emerging and established artists practising across the visual arts spectrum. As well as providing an exciting and challenging programme of visual arts exhibitions, the gallery also serves as a forum for the education and discussion of disability-led art and culture.
Beginning in 2018, Atypical Gallery will host a series of talks, screenings, readings and events around disability art, contemporary practice, socially engaged and participatory art, and disability-led art and curation. Our aim is to broaden public perceptions of disabled and D/deaf art practice, to champion excellence in visual arts practice, and to support and encourage the professional development and acceptance of disabled and D/deaf artists in Northern Ireland.
Gillian O’Hagan and Helen Sloan: Missing Voices
22 October 2019 to 15 November 2019
Programmed with Belfast International Arts Festival, Atypical Gallery presents Missing Voices, a participatory photographic project about the lives of young women with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), led by Queen’s University researcher Gillian O’Hagan and photographer Helen Sloan.
Over a five week period, Helen and Gillian worked with a group of nine adolescent girls from four schools across Belfast. Using smartphones, the girls produced a series of 34 photographs, giving a powerful and moving insight into their lives inside and outside of the mainstream school environment.
To complement the exhibition, Atypical Gallery will host a panel discussion and photovoice workshop from 7pm on the evening of Thursday 24 October.
Led by Gillian O’Hagan and Helen Sloan, this discussion will delve deeper into the focus of the Missing Voices project which aims to amplify the adolescent female voice of ASD. The panel will look at the importance of creative expression in helping girls with ASD to allow parents, teachers, friends and others to understand their experience of the world around them.
They will also discuss the chronic problem of misdiagnosis in female ASD, asking why practitioners continue to use male-led diagnostic criteria that leaves countless young girls unseen, unheard and unrepresented.
Gillian O’Hagan is a doctoral student at Queen’s University Belfast. She is also the SENCO and Head of Psychology in Aquinas Diocesan Grammar School in Belfast.
Helen Sloan is an Irish photographer best known for her work as primary stills photographer on the HBO series Game of Thrones.
Past Exhibitions
Exhibition Dates: 13th June 2019 to 19th July 2019
Launch: Saturday March 30th 2019 2pm to 4pm
Exhibition Dates: April 1st to April 26th 2019
Launch: Saturday January 19th 2019 2pm to 4pm
Exhibition Dates: January 21st to March 1st 2019
Launch: Saturday November 10th 2018 2pm to 4pm
Exhibition Dates: November 12th to December 21st 2018
Launch: Thursday August 2nd 5.30pm to 8pm
Exhibition dates: August 3rd to August 31st