“Art is medicine before aesthetics” (Laura Prendergast, 2025)

Laura Prendergast physicalizes the female neurodiverse experience in the hope she can make it tangible enough to not be ignored.

A Simple Task explores the internal landscape of Prendergast’s own neurodiverse brain. She translates abstract internal feelings into a physical structure giving insight into the exhaustion of “being a banana trying to behave like an apple”. Prendergast makes art to remedy her bouncing brain. She puts more value into the art making process than the final outcome; she believes that tactile making and creative thinking can create a subtle meditative moment that cannot be captured elsewhere.

If she does not need a thorough wash after using a material, it probably is not for her. Process driven, Prendergast works with 3D malleable materials that can keep up with her impulsive thoughts. Clay and plaster interest her due to the highly tactile sensory experience they supply.

Prendergast had a unique curatorial approach: she did not arrive at the gallery with a vision, instead she invested 50 hours into tactile play, 3D sketching and intense creative thought. This honours her neurodiverse methodology to realise her degree show piece. Her curation was integral to the concept of A Simple Task. The action of her building up a tenuous scaffold externalises the notion of her as a neurodiverse woman trying to stay afloat in a patriarchal, neurotypical society. It is a performance piece in itself.

Prendergast would like to thank Karl Geleff, the university’s foundry technician who helped her find her voice as an artist.