I’m an artist (sculpture, drawing, painting, fabric, photography; everything but performance art) but also a scientist (genetics/genomics/botany/wildlife biologist). I am profoundly aphantasic but I can draw and paint from my imagination as well as from life. When I draw, or sculpt, or do any art, my hands know what to do; it’s as if I’m channeling but I never have a mental imagery of what I’m trying to draw or sculpt. I draw from conceptual understanding. When I was getting my Master’s degree, my thesis work was with barn owls, and I handled many owls for several years. I can now draw them with no difficulty, even though it’s been around 35 years since I last handled an owl, but I can’t see them in my mind. My hands see them.

I’m an artist (sculpture, drawing, painting, fabric, photography; everything but performance art) but also a scientist (genetics/genomics/botany/wildlife biologist). I am profoundly aphantasic but I can draw and paint from my imagination as well as from life. When I draw, or sculpt, or do any art, my hands know what to do; it’s as if I’m channeling but I never have a mental imagery of what I’m trying to draw or sculpt. I draw from conceptual understanding. When I was getting my Master’s degree, my thesis work was with barn owls, and I handled many owls for several years. I can now draw them with no difficulty, even though it’s been around 35 years since I last handled an owl, but I can’t see them in my mind. My hands see them.