Five exhibitions that are changing our perceptions through art

These shows demonstrate how creativity can unlock empathy, aid communication and help us share experiences of neurodiversity

Mahlia Amatina, Transitions I

Understand the power of perception with young artists

Mahlia Amatina embarked on her artistic practice when she reached a crossroads in her life: she was made redundant from her job in the corporate world, and she was diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome. Creativity became a way for her to explore her sensory experiences of life, working in a range of media including painting, audio and audience interaction. Her latest exhibition, Alternate Perceptions, at Salisbury Arts Centre includes a collaboration with the SHIFT! programme, in which young creatives are invited to take part in workshops to consider the many contexts and interpretations of Amatina’s installation Around the World in 80 Washing Lines and create a new, youth-led version. 

Alternate Perceptions at Salisbury Arts Centre, until 3 July

Yoki, Self-portrait, 2020. © Submit to Love Studios / Headway East London

Discover common threads through textiles

This exhibition features work by 23 artists who are members of Submit to Love Studios, a collective of self-taught creatives, who have all survived brain injuries. Using Autograph’s photography collection as a starting point for textile works, the artists have created a series of new pieces utilising embroideries, appliqués and fabric prints to engage with issues of collaboration, heritage, talent and otherness. 

Common Threads at Autograph, 23 June–14 August

Wellcome Collection

Consider the true meaning of happiness 

In a new season of exhibitions, events and commissions, the Wellcome Collection considers how we define and measure happiness. Two shows consider the terms ‘joy’ and ‘tranquillity’, with new works by Harold Offeh, Amalia Pica and David Shrigley appearing in the former, and Chrystel Lebas’s multisensory tribute to forests in the latter. Data designer Stefanie Posavec has also created an interactive artwork, where people can complete a questionnaire via the Updating Happiness website and receive a bespoke, uniquely designed quote. 

On Happiness season at the Wellcome Collection, 15 July 2021–27 February 2022

Example of work by Madge Gill, Untitled, c1950s, courtesy of private collector

Experience art’s spiritual power

Pallant House’s latest collaboration with Outside In (a charity that provides a platform for artists who face significant barriers to the art world due to health, disability, social circumstance or isolation) sees Julia Oak respond to the work of Madge Gill, an ‘outsider’ artist who was known for her connection to spirituality and magic. Oak’s automatic drawings, which involve no prior planning beyond selecting materials, make reference to Gill’s thousands of intricate, fantastical ink pieces and encourage us to consider the power of the inner psyche and the healing potential of art. Rather than sharing past traumas, Oak refers to the acronym PTSD as ‘Pens, Tea, Silence, Drawing’. 

All Souls: The Outside In Co-Commission 2020 at Pallant House Gallery, until 18 July 

Christine Sun Kim

See the city differently

Christine Sun Kim invites the public to experience Manchester in ‘a new dimension’, by attaching descriptive and poetic captions to buildings across the city, on a vast scale. As an experimental sound artist who is deaf, she considers the many ways each of us interact with and perceive the world around us on a unique level, as well as the sensory experiences that can bring communities together. This installation forms part of Manchester International Festival. 

Captioning the City, across Manchester, 1–18 July