To You From Super Me is an exhibition designed to reveal the extraordinary in the overlooked, to celebrate the ‘superheroes’ hidden within.

Friction have been working with Sandwell Youth Services (SEND) at the Windmill Centre in Smethwick and a group of young people with autism for almost a year.  It’s been a very inspiring project for all concerned, and we’ve got as much out of it as the young people – so we wanted to find a way to share this with a wider audience.  We got our heads together, raised some funding and started to create ‘To You From Super Me’.

The drama and animation sessions had been really successful during the workshop process, so we looked at ways to incorporate these into the final exhibition.  We brought in Marvel comic artist, John McCrea, to work with the group and see what emerged.  Through the drama sessions we developed a series of super alter egos for the young people and John worked with them to create images inspired by their characters.  We then got image-maker Chris Keenan to work with us and the young people to create a series of video portraits revealing the ‘extraordinariness’ of the group, to create a life-size ‘video triptych’ for the exhibition.

The resultant installation is breathtaking. You are surrounded on three sides by life-size projection s of the young people, immersed in Martin Clarke’s fantastic soundtrack and gaze at these portraits which reveal the ‘superheroes’ that are the young people.  It’s a very powerful and moving art work, which makes us re-evaluate our attitudes, to people with disabilities, and to ourselves.  To You From Super Me will be at the Public in West Bromwich (Lower Gallery) until 26th June, 2011 with the launch on Wednesday 8th June, 6-8pm.