It’s been almost five years since I started working with Damilola Idowu and finally our book, The Wiggle Woshers and their Stolen Hearts, has just been published. Dami, as he’s known as, has Autistic Spectrum Disorder and learning difficulties and a rather lovely ability to draw beautifully.
Naadia Kidy
He’s not a savant, he’s just a cool kid who has proved to be one of my most amenable colleagues. And us creative sorts are not always that amenable.
I met him as a youth worker on a creative course. He was studying life drawing and his subject was me. I wore a fluffy coat and held a balloon in my hand and I was charmed instantly. There was a nativity to his drawings which were both surreal and intriguing. I knew fate and faith had led me here and was compelled to collaborate with him.
Dami is fairly easy going. The sensory overloads of younger years are mainly under control and he is a mindful young man, practicing breathing and listening to classical music and, of course, drawing.
Communication proved slightly complex; a brief might include me asking a collaborator for a “surreal creature who could play an anti-hero” and Dami’s understating did not lend itself to this. So we (Dami’s mum, Anne, and myself) broke it down, we taught him about surrealism, and renamed it “drawing from your imagination” and renamed details as “patterns”. We spoke in a parallel language, in “Dami Speak” if you like. We visited museums to try more life drawing which fell flat on its face, we let Dami run with open palettes which also had some rather muddy results. We worked and tweaked, we discovered, we critiqued. I had Dami’s work reviewed by an illustration agency who told me his level on understanding meant he wouldn’t cut it the competitive world of illustration. Whether or not he chooses to pursue this line of work is Dami’s decision, but anyone holding back due to ability or nuerodiversity is blind sighted and lazy. I’m not saying it was a doddle but I have worked with way more taxing creatives in my career.
As we got further along with production of the book and under the guidance of our Art Director Anette Wilms we honed in on two specific styles. From then on we switched to video messaging. Quicker than emailing, and allowing me to connect remotely it gave Dami a whole heap of independence from hovering Mummy and Naadia. It was so key that he had this independence; he was no longer an teenager and revelled in his adult status. He loves the autonomy- watching a video and working to brief. And work that didn’t meet the standard either Anette or I desired was sent back and redone - there wasn’t room for tip-toeing around. Dami knew this was a big project and he was focussed.
His passion for excellence often exceeded our own. At this point it became as much about autism as not about autism, his autism giving him the need for structure and yet we wanted to break out of any “special treatment” to develop the mindset of a young working man. Of course, we still used appropriate language and kept the project positive but Dami was really professional and any workaround was minor.
I am always impressed, both artistically and professionally by Dami. His attention to detail and focus can be attributed to his autism in some respects and therefore reflected in the meticulous nature of some of his artwork. I cannot conclude without saying that Dami is the man he is today because he was sensitively and diligently encouraged by his mum, Anne, to explore the world both creatively and physically. Her own creative nature and positive attitudes have helped shape him and her determination has led him to be the balanced young man he is. And for that I will be forever truly grateful.
The Wiggle Woshers and Their Stolen Hearts can be purchased at www.thewigglewoshers.co.uk