Nonverbal painter and poet with autism uses his art to be heard
Artists often use their work to share a message A local painter and poet who is nonverbal also uses his art to be heard Charles Lenny Lunn has autism and apraxia which prevents him from speaking In the studio Lunn uses rollers and brushes to express himself His style is modern and uniquely his own His paintings are colorful bold and sometimes paired with poems To write Lunn points to letters on an alphabet board dictating his words to a communication partner A multitude of of his poems are about his fight to communicate and be heard Just as I ascertained words for poems in my life I revealed colors for my paintings quite easily Lunn declared Looking for words and colors gives me something to do in my silence I want others to not think of me as silent and stupid His paintings and poetry are featured in an exhibit at Lost Origins Gallery in Northwest D C titled Nonsense Hopeful Songs My Inner Fight to Be Heard It is Lunn s first art show His mother hopes the exhibit will inspire others This is absolutely about giving children who are non-speaking a voice and letting the world know that they are in there she revealed When Charles was months old I was described he would be a vegetable he would never walk he would not get off all fours and to put him in a home And I gotta tell you that s not my son So you ve gotta believe You ve gotta believe in competence There s a voice in there there s a human in there and just give them a way to express themselves Sarah Tanguy and Jason Hamacher curated the exhibit of paintings and several poems But it s not just about the art they say Trump administration May US Soundness department will analyze records from autistic Medicare Medicaid enrollees RFK Jr says Maryland Apr Mother warns parents of risks after drowning of -year-old boy with autism We all have struggles we ve all experienced frustration and pain Tanguy declared And there is so much pleasure and overcoming and liberation in these paintings What I m hoping to illustrate with this is that what we see and what we experience does not translate to what s inside of someone and so this for me is vital Hamacher announced Lunn s work can be seen at the Lost Origins Gallery through June Get the D C area s top news and weather delivered to your inbox every morning Sign up for First Preponderance our free newsletter
