Against the odds, Williams perseveres with Dis-IS-Ability 3

Nine years after a psychosis diagnosis, eight years after a diagnosis of early-onset Alzheimer's, and two years after the disruption of his world by the pandemic, artist Jon Williams is still here.

And Williams, who has Down Syndrome, is here with his latest exhibition Dis-IS-Ability 3, which opened on March 9 at Studio Joli in St James.

Williams’ mother Arlene Williams said when he was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in 2016, she was told he had five years before cognitive deterioration took place.

“I needed people to see again, this is an intellectual disability, this is psychosis, so mental illness, and this is early-onset Alzheimer's, and a young man who has these painted that.

“The fact that he can produce this kind of work says something to me about the human spirit and about the brain. To me it says, ‘Look, we’re still here!’ Look at where we are by the grace of God. There have been challenges but we continue to power through.

“What do you then do with a relative who has one of these debilitating diagnoses? Will it make somebody stop and think, ‘If Jon could do this, am I limiting my child?’”

She recalled, in 2015 when Williams got the diagnosis of unspecified schizophrenia spectrum disorder, the initial set of medication left him debilitated. She was looking for anything that could bring her son “back to himself” and so went with Williams to a Sip and Paint session hosted by a friend.

His painting was very good and Williams thoroughly enjoyed it so she started looking for a teacher willing to work with him. She did and is very grateful.

The teacher, who wished to remain unidentified, said she was proud of Williams’ work. She noticed some improvements in the way he followed instructions and his attention to detail.

She said her process involved trying to see things the way Willaims saw them and guiding him through the process of putting it on canvas. She said pulling what was inside of him out was exhausting but fulfilling as he had “a good eye.”

She added that he enjoyed painting and being in the studio, which was especially evident when he finished a canvas as he would square his shoulders and sit back with a sense of accomplishment surrounding him.

Arlene stressed that the pandemic was extremely difficult for Jon, who will be 43 this year.

She said he was a very active and social person. He attends the Lady Hochoy Vocational Centre, enjoys action movies, working out at the gym and painting but he could do none of that during the lockdown which led to negative behavioural changes.

“During the pandemic he lost all of his connections so covid was extremely difficult on Jon’s mental health and my coping strategies. When we came out of the lockdown he started painting again and you could see it made such a difference to him. He was very happy.”

Much of those paintings will be on display at the exhibition which will include 59 pieces of nature scenes and still life studies painted in acrylic on canvas board. They were painted from pictures Williams and Arlene took when out and about.

“I always want to make this very clear. Jon doesn't paint like other people. Jon does not produce any piece of art completely by himself. John works with an art teacher and she guides him.

“If, for example, he's doing a house, she may put the roofline and he will look at the picture and she will tell him, ‘Okay, you fill that in.’ Or she will say, ‘Look at the sky. Let's work on the sky.’ So it's a process like that.”

The exhibition will end on March 21, World Down Syndrome Day when people will be paying attention to the condition.

Arlene said, “I have to say, in 43 years I have seen, as a parent and as part of the Down Syndrome Family Network, the kind of help that is available to parents now that was not readily available when Jon was younger.

“So we’ve come a way, particularly when it comes to mental health challenges, but we have a long way to go.”

She said, especially after the pandemic, she noticed people were more open to speaking about their mental health, recognising their dysfunction and working on it, and that many young people were studying psychology.

“My brokenness might not look like your brokenness but we're all broken people. A lot of us are walking around with a hole in our soul. And so there are things that you need to do to fill that hole that are positive. Not the negative things that people use like sex, shopping, money, and drugs.

“You have to come to a place of wholeness. Therapy teaches you the skills that you need to navigate life. Therapy and my relationship with God has done that for me. And that's what we all need.”