Camp Lakey Gap is a residential camp for people with autism located in Black Mountain, North Carolina.
I've been making pictures at camp nearly every summer since moving to North Carolina seven years ago. I'm drawn to the people and the chance to learn more about the different ways people with autism function and communicate. The delicate flowering of relationships between the campers and counselors also intrigues me.
There’s a stereotype that people with autism don’t make emotional connections with other people, but I watched many of these campers form very close bonds with their counselors, and with each other. They may not express affection verbally or with obvious physical gestures, but it’s often tender and deep when it happens. Sometimes it’s just a fleeting moment, like when Spencer touched his counselor Laura’s hair. Or when Josh gently nuzzled Will, his fellow camper during the dance night. I try to capture those little moments that challenge some of the preconceptions about autism. I want to visually translate the ways the campers are affectionate and find the emotional thread running through the images. This series conveys more than an individual camper displaying autistic behavior. It demonstrates the relationships and richness of camp.
I want to document the campers’ range of experiences, from solitary moments to the shared expressions of affection. Camp Lakey Gap pushes many of the campers to break from their shells and develop relationships that sometimes elude them in everyday life.
This was the first time documenting the camp with an iPhone as opposed to medium format film, which is what I had been using every summer prior. Though the iPhone has technical limitations, it allowed me to work more closely and interactively with the campers.
Thank you for looking.
-Erin Brethauer