Dustin Wilson (Montréal, QC)

(Drawings)

My cousin shane has had severe handicaps from birth. He was born with under developed feet and legs, he lacks higher motor function in his hands and tongue and suffers from impaired vision and seizures that are gradually diminishing his brain function. From an early age his doctors speculated that would never be able to walk or communicate and if by some chance he lived though adolescence he would soon fall into a vegetative state.

After undergoing multiple surgeries he was walking by the age of five with the aid of leg braces, he was able to communicate using rudimentary sign language and It became obvious that he had a bright and functioning mind despite the barriers his handicaps presented.

Now, at the age of sixteen Shane gets around by driving a modified ride-on lawn mower, or his modified tricycle but most of the time he uses a walker. He goes to a school where he learns the skills to be more self reliant and uses a portable touch screen computer to help himself comunicate.

Last summer while back home in New Brunswick, I was playing a little GTA with Shane and I began to seriously think about his future and the technologies that are the extensions of his physical body.

I decided that I would investigate the possibilities of various pseudo-scientific and space-age technologies by drawing a series of speculative narratives. First I would reasearch and design theoretical solutions for mobility and comunication then draw a series of tests. The intent of this is to investigate the plausibility of technologies which would enrich Shane's outer and inner life and allow him, not only to function as a normal man, but as a regular ... supra man(one better than super).

- Dustin Wilson (2007)

Contact: dawlsn@mta.ca

Web: www.terminus1525.ca/studio/view/2415 or www.myspace.com/ramseystjohn