Bio-Neuroambiguous (series), 2018
Glazed ceramic, plants and soil
Three works each 152 x 177 x 127mm
Prue Stevenson’s head-shaped ceramic plant pots celebrate the vibrant ambiguity of neurodiversity—the understanding that cognitive variation is a natural part of human diversity. The term was coined in 1998 by Australian sociologist Judy Singer, who was inspired by how biodiversity is vital to a healthy ecosystem to recognise that valuing a diversity of human neurological differences is vital to the wellbeing of individuals, and in turns creates a more equal society. Stevenson references the conceptual origins of Singer’s theory by creating individualised heads as plant pots, connecting the bio with the neuro. The blissful facial expressions of the thriving plants that comprise the series allude to the life-giving influence that the concept of neurodiversity has had on neurodivergent people.