Rome, 2016. Giuseppe in his school gym: occasionally, while his mates are in the classroom he spends time in the gym. In 2016 he was 13 years old and attending 6th grade. When he was 2 he was diagnosed with a severe non-verbal form of autism.
One and Three (2015-2018)
A family and autism
How does a mental disability look like in daily life? This was the first question I had when I started this project in 2015. This work about Giuseppe, a 13-years-old boy - who was diagnosed with a severe form of autism when aged 2 - soon turned into the attempt of portraying the intimacy of a family dealing with autism.
One and Three is the gesture that Giuseppe makes with his hands when he wants to get his mother attention. As growing into a teenager, Giuseppe’s request for his mother attention became more and more intense, to the extent that Alessandra often feels overwhelmed.
Three years ago, she and Antonio - Giuseppe’s father - divorced. Antonio often recalls how difficult it is for him to get in touch with his son. Giulia - Giusep- pe’s sister - is two years older than him and did not tell anybody outside her family about her brother’s disability. In the attempt of getting a glimpse of this family intimacy, I got to understand how there is no wrong or right but only different points of view.
Rome, 2016. Giuseppe lives in a small apartment in the outskirt of Rome with his mother, Alessandra, his sister, Giulia, 15-years-old and Bea, the family pet dog.
Rome, 2016. Giuseppe with his father Antonio, while they wait for Giuseppe’s weekly athletic training to begin. Giuseppe used to practice basketball but noises inside the gym where making him nervous. Antonio visits his son quite regularly, but often says that the more he grow up, the more difficult it gets for him to feel connected to him.
Rome, 2016. Giuseppe and his mother, on the balcony of their apartment in the outskirt of Rome. Alessandra often mentions how the feels overwhelmed by Giuseppe constant request of attention.
Rome, 2016. Giuseppe used to attend weekly activities with a group of young boys and girls with autism. He usually enjoyed, but sometimes he might got nervous.
Rome, 2016. Giuseppe and his mother on the balcony, while Giulia his looking at them from the window. Alessandra was noticing how little beard started growing on her son cheek.
Rome, 2017. Giuseppe does not speak, but has his ways to communicate.
Rome, 2016. Giuseppe in his classroom with his teacher. They were annoyed by his mates being very noisy and were asking for silence.
Rome, 2016. After school, Giuseppe used to spend most of his time sitting on the couch. He was trying to hide the scratches he made on the wall.
Rome, 2016. A er school Giuseppe is waiting for his mother to come and pick him up.
Rome, 2016. When his mother is not watching, Giuseppe is often scratching or drawing on the wall in the living room.
Rome, 2016. Giuseppe lying down and relaxing on the athletics track. In July 2016, as an emergency measure, Giuseppe was hospitalized. He is still living in a facility for people with mental problems, outside Rome.