Nonverbal autistic artist shares his voice through first gallery exhibit
Charles Lenny Lunn communicates through abstract paintings and letter board poetry at Washington gallery
WASHINGTON (Aging Untold) — A nonverbal autistic artist held his first gallery exhibit, sharing his perspective through abstract paintings and poetry composed on a letter board.
Charles Lenny Lunn’s work opened at Lost Origins Gallery in Washington, D.C., marking the first time he publicly shared his art and written words.
Lunn was born with a rare genetic disorder linked with autism and apraxia, leaving him unable to speak or plan and execute movements, his mother, Lorie Peters Lauthier, said.
“It’s not an intellectual disability. It’s actually a mind-body dysfunction,” Peters Lauthier said. “Their brain is not sending the synapsis to their body. So he doesn’t know where his body is in space. So when he paints, he feels his body.”
Finding expression through art
Peters Lauthier said a doctor told her to put Lunn in a home when he was 10 months old, saying he would never be more than a vegetable.
Lunn paints in his Maryland basement with the help of an instructor who opens the paint. Each painting represents a chapter of his story.
He writes captions and poems that accompany the exhibit by tapping on a letter board with the help of a communication specialist.
“My speech glows like the sun. Highest things, my words,” co-curator Sarah Tanguy read from one of Lunn’s poems.
Through his letter board, Lunn said he hopes people who see his art get curious.
“Just coming to my show has the tiny potential to challenge assumptions on how nonspeaking folks truly don’t sit in silence on the inside,” Lunn wrote.
Jason Hamacher, who owns Lost Origins gallery, said showing Lunn’s art was a decision he made quickly after seeing the work.
“I’m a father. Like, I’ve got two kids. And I was like, this is a really interesting opportunity just to see. And then I saw the artwork. I was like, oh my God, this is insane,” Hamacher said.
Peters Lauthier said the exhibit represents years of struggle against a system that told her family her son would never accomplish anything.
“They’re no lesser. They’re not disabled. They are human,” she said.
“He’s differently abled. He’s able. And he proved it right there to every one of us,” Sam Cradduck, a gerontologist and Aging Untold expert, said.
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