For people with autism spectrum disorder, sensory inputs often feel intense and hard to filter. These heightened sensitivities can be compounded by an acute awareness of patterns, exacerbating sensory overload and intensifying feelings of agitation and fear. The animated short Hole follows Mo, who is autistic, through a day haunted by an ominous black orb that shadows their every turn. Through a vivid colour palette, jittery lines, jarring bursts of mixed media and a saturated soundscape, the Vancouver artist Gil Goletski immerses viewers into the spiralling theatre of Mo’s mind as both their inner turmoil and the hole grow harder to ignore. By gradually blurring the boundaries between internal experience and the external world, Goletski conveys the chaos and disorientation of peak sensory overload, providing a window into a reality that can be difficult for the neurotypical mind to grasp.
