Six-year old little girl Iris Grace is an autistic artist. At the age of three she had the world’s attention thanks to her incredible paintings, and now, at the tender age of six not only has she sold a painting to one Angelina Jolie (we think she’s famous or something, not too sure), along with her mum, Arabella Carter-Johnson, she has also released a stunning book of her work.
The book, titled “Iris Grace”, features Iris’ paintings, candid images of her at work, and diary entries from her mum on what it’s like to parent a child with autism.
“Iris knows people have bought some of her pieces for their homes so they can enjoy them every day, but we do protect her from the media,” Arabella told The Mighty. “There are a great many paintings that we would never sell, as they mean so much to her.
“If we stretch ourselves too far, we will lose what we have worked so hard on, which is following Iris’s lead, what this was always and will always be about. That’s what the paintings mean, they are a way for Iris to express herself and for us to connect.”
And, in a way which is almost poetically cyclical and regenerative, all of the profits from Iris’ art goes to buy more art materials and to pay the fees of her ongoing private therapists,
What an amazing talent – and we think the way Iris expresses herself and communicates through her work is wonderful, especially considering children with autism can often find communicating their feelings a frustrating endeavour.
