Visual arts teacher, Bellinda Boyd, had high hopes for the Holroyd High exhibition put on recently by the support unit students at the school.

“We wanted to blow the minds of the public, so these kids can know they can do anything just as well as anyone else and possibly better,” Ms Boyd said.

One look at the video of the exhibition (below) and you can see it is mission accomplished.

The support unit teaches students living with disability. Students Ms Boyd describes as inspirational.

“Because they face serious challenges every day, when I present a challenging task to push them, they respond with a courage and resilience I’ve never seen before, and I’ve been teaching art for 20 years,” she said.

“They take risks that we don’t take, they have an ability to explore without fear of failure and inhibition.”

Among the works on display is a chair by Samuel Butterfield, expertly decorated in the style of his favourite artist, Vincent Van Gough.

“I’m a huge fan of his, I’ve known him for a long time,” the Year 11 student said.

“The more I learn about his backstory, the fact he used to use painting to escape his mental illness, because that’s what he endured his whole life, I like that about the guy. Not to mention he cut off his ear!”

Fellow Year 11 student Nicholas Gray’s installation was inspired by positive memories of his childhood.

“This one is inspired by memories of me camping with my father. I bent wire into the shapes of a tent, a campfire and the moon. I remember we had s’mores one night on the trip,” he said.

“I find you can express yourself in a way through art, but also you can turn off your brain and just have fun.”

Year 8 student Declan Celese has similar feelings about art.

“I love it. It’s just relaxing, you just get to chill out and not think about everything, and escape,” he said.

Toby Bensemann, a Year 10 student, loves the chance to try new things.

“It’s really relaxing but it challenges me to think outside the box, be creative and try something different each time. You try to think how you can use your current skills in a new way,” he said.

A quick glance at Henry Lockington’s painting and you can see who the subject is straight away.

“I painted an A.I. version of me,” Henry explained.

“It took a month to do this, and I really improved my skills. I also made a table based on a Marvel character.”

Ms Boyd said the theme of the exhibition was ‘ability transcends disability’.

She said she could not be happier with the results, not just because of the high quality of work, or the number of exhibits sold.

“Listening to them speak about art, it’s so rewarding to hear them say art is calming and rewarding and an escape. I feel so happy because that’s exactly why we’re doing this,” she said.

“Working with students with disability is very new to me, and I don’t think I’ll leave ever the support unit because this is changing lives.”