The Doseum in San Antonio has chosen its annual Artist in Residence recipient. Houstonian Sarah Sudhoffwill produce a large installation at the Doseum which will show how some children with dyslexia see the world.
Her charge was an artistic one, but as it turns out, a personal one too.
"My son, who's 8, his name is August. He happens to be dyslexic," she said.
This put her on a rapid learning curve to try to learn and understand the science of it.
"I am no expert. I know who the experts are. I have talked to several of them," Sudhoff said.
And so her installation will be designed to address the challenges dyslexic children face in reading.
"To creatively and playfully examine the processes and mechanics of the brain and the regions of the brain that are used to read and how reading differs for all of us," she said.
Her art will have to be creative, but it needs to have very scientific roots.
"I'm working with data from Georgetown that has been collected through MRI scans of children with dyslexia, doing a task and watching their brain light up in different regions," Sudhoff said.
Given that it’s an installation at a Children’s Museum, it will also have to be fun, accessible, interactive, durable and done in the next 10 weeks.
"I want kids, dyslexic kids, non-dyslexic kids to come in and be able to have a wonderful experience with this installation," she said. "And really walk away with understanding how their brain works and how reading changes their brain."
Jack Morgan can be reached at Jack@TPR.org and on Twitter at @JackMorganii.
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