This is a collection of artworks created as part of an ongoing research project, which works with the rhythms, patterns and imagery of Virginia Woolf’s novel The Waves to propose an ‘autistic mode of reading’. Worthy hopes to show that how we read and relate to text can reframe and decentralise autistic experiences of friendship and relationality.

The works are made through mono printing and linocuts layered onto torn pages of The Waves, combining paint, texture, and print to capture the immersive and obscure qualities of Woolf’s writing. A portrait of Woolf, adapted from George Charles Beresford’s photograph, recurs throughout, reflecting her inseparability from her texts. Other motifs include Rhoda, depicted reaching upwards amid foliage, and an image of hands covering a face, which together explore overlooked characters, personal resonances, and the complexities of autistic masking.