For my PechaKucha Presentation I decided to research Stephen Wiltshire, an artist from London who is best known for his impressive memorization skills. He creates drawings and paintings of city landscapes that are completely accurate and his only reference is his brain. He can completely recreate an entire landscape, even a panorama view of a city with only looking at it once and very briefly. Wiltshire was diagnosed with autism at the age of 3 and would not speak until the age of 5, when he first began drawing. His first word was “paper” and his second was “pen”. His school teachers quickly discovered that he was a talented artist and put him in art shows which helped him begin gaining recognition. By the age of 8, he sold his first work to the Prime Minister of the UK. Wiltshire went on to art school at City & Guilds Art College for Fine Arts. Wiltshire is now an established artist with his own gallery and known throughout the entire world. In 2006, he was awarded Member of the Order of the British Empire for services to the art world. His most popular and known works are his large curved canvases of major cities he flew over in a helicopter. He would take short helicopter rides over any major city he visits and then would begin drawing them on very large canvases, up to 13 feet long. Stephen Wiltshire has become an inspiration to many other people with autism as a reminder to embrace who you are, do what you love and never stop.

Slide: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/18Df-0LJXOU_VdodzjzzdIT1Pkr00U5SXwe0Zm30jNRo/edit?usp=sharing

Reference List:

https://www.stephenwiltshire.co.uk/

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/autism-artist-stephen-wiltshire-cities-genius