Sophie Mcgill
(They/them)
The lamb and the ewe have personally become symbols of autistic coming-of-age, especially for autistic women. The lamb represents innocence, play, and bliss, while the ewe represents responsibility, motherhood, and safety. To me, this reflects the constant push and pull between being infantilised and carrying a hyper-responsibility for the feelings of others, especially when misunderstood.
This has led my work in the direction of exploring masking, trauma, childhood, and growing up as an autistic person, and how these experiences have shaped me. My poetry and artwork contain personal experiences with grief, masking, self-surveillance, loneliness, and escapism. Prolonged isolation has also influenced my work; I feel as though my life has taught me to be hyper-aware of myself and my emotions. This translates into my poetry, I describe my writing as my inner voice and thought processes speaking aloud for others to finally see.
