Holly Goodridge expresses ideas of associating the self with systems connected to her lived experience. Using practice to escape the constrictions of neurotypicality, the works created represented metaphorical portals through the process of using an ‘automated-self’ to create a preferred space apart from reality. Using fluorescent colours and abstract forms, she draws a connection to a void of otherness, escaping the drab of systemic existence. Each painting serves as an act of escapism, diverging from a world that is perplexing, to a new space that is comprehensible to her personal existence.Diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder last year, the links that relate between her practise and lived experience became coherent. Familiar imagery blended alongside the unknown, her paintings evoke a sense of self that social hierarchies exclude, years of partaking in social rituals that never made sense to her, often feeling astray and alienated.