Listening Between the Lines: An Online Art Workshop with Alison Lam
A reflective, hands-on online workshop exploring silence, gesture, masking, overwhelm, and the forms of neurodivergent communication that often go unnoticed.
Description
This session explores the moments often overlooked in neurodivergent communication - silence, hesitation, gesture, withdrawal, masking, and the things that are present but not always recognised.
Working from her perspective as a British-born Chinese neurodivergent artist, Alison Lam looks at how these behaviours are shaped, misread, and sometimes dismissed through cultural expectation. Growing up between British and Chinese worlds, she considers how ways of moving, speaking, withholding, and responding can carry meaning even when they don’t look like “communication” in the usual sense. What is seen as “too much,” “too quiet,” or “not quite right” is often communication that hasn’t been understood, or cannot be understood without shifting the framework around it.
The workshop focuses on the space just before overwhelm - the moment when something is felt but not yet spoken, the gap between being yourself and being legible to others.
Through drawing, writing, and folding, participants are invited to work at the edge of what can be said. You’ll be asked to write or draw a moment of not fitting in, masking, or becoming overwhelmed, then physically discard it in a safe, contained act that reflects what can be lost when communication goes unrecognised. A second response is folded into an origami lotus, partially visible and partially concealed, holding space for what is hidden, unsaid, or still forming.
This workshop treats gesture, material, and action as language. It asks what happens when that language is finally noticed, held, and shared.
Who it’s for
This workshop is for people aged 16 and over who are curious about neurodivergent communication, masking, overwhelm, silence, gesture, and cross-cultural experience. It may especially resonate with neurodivergent people, artists, creative practitioners, and anyone drawn to reflective, hands-on workshop spaces.
Who it’s not for
This workshop is not for under 16s. It may also not be suitable for people who find drawing, writing, or folding physically difficult, or who would prefer a more lecture-based session with less making and reflection.
You’ll leave with
A small physical artwork or folded piece made during the session.
Space to reflect on moments of not fitting in, masking, or overwhelm.
A little more breathing room around experiences that can be hard to name.
A sense of shared recognition and care through making alongside others.
A deeper feeling for how communication can happen through gesture, material, and action, not just words.
Materials needed
Square paper or origami paper
Pencils
Pens or another writing tool
Feedback from previous workshops
Previous participants described Alison’s workshops as calming, welcoming, creative, and grounding.
A few things people said:
“Very fun + relaxing being able to talk + do something tactile.”
“My nervous system felt entirely unwound. Thank you.”
“The guidance + sessions were calming + welcoming. I loved it!”
“I loved this event! I enjoyed the guidance, and quiet - no rules :)”
“I especially enjoyed the gentle guidance through your words.”
About Alison
Alison Lam is a British-Chinese neurodivergent social practice artist. Mother of neurodivergent sons. Her work investigates misrecognition, silence, and cross-cultural communication through material processes and participatory practice. She works with gesture, trace, and form as languages in themselves, challenging how neurodivergent experience is read, framed, and understood within institutional and cultural contexts.
Website: alisonlam.art
About this collaboration
This workshop marks the beginning of a collaboration between Alison Lam and Emilia from Neurotribe. Neurotribe is a platform founded by Emilia Kürau to support neurodivergent adults through advocacy, education, and community-building, with a neurodiversity-affirming and non-pathologising approach. Together, this collaboration brings Alison’s artistic practice into conversation with Neurotribe’s wider commitment to creating spaces where neurodivergent adults feel recognised, supported, and less alone.
Pricing
Early bird: 10 Euro, available until Saturday May 16th.
Regular price: 15 Euro.