How “sunny” woman Judith Scott found a twin sister after 35 years of separation and became a genius sculptor

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

This amazing woman spent most of her life in an orphanage. Even in early childhood, those around her decided that she was not capable of communication, mental activity, feelings and emotions. Coming out of this "prison" after forty years, Judith Scott unexpectedly became an artist who today is called one of the geniuses of modern abstract art. Incapable of verbal communication, she was able to tell the whole world about her inner world with the help of unique, unlike anything else "sculptures".

On May 1, 1943, twins, Judith and Joyce, were born into an ordinary American Scott family from Ohio. The girls were not identical twins, but from a very early age they reached out to each other, spent all their time together, invented games, ran around the garden and surrounding fields. This happy time did not last long. Over the years, the difference between them became more and more noticeable, because Judith was born with Down syndrome. By the age of seven, the girl did not speak, her babbling was understood only by her sister, who became her constant guide and translator, and was never burdened by her role. In fact, if Judith Scott was born today, her social adaptation would only be a matter of time. The girl's problem was not only in a congenital disease, but also in the fact that after scarlet fever she lost her hearing. Unfortunately, no one even noticed this, and for many years she was considered “unteachable”.

Judith went to school with Joyce only once. The teachers found out on the very first day that they could not work with such a child. As a result, already in mid-October, the "unlucky" twin was taken to an appropriate institution - an asylum for the mentally ill. This day was a real tragedy for both sisters. Joyce closed herself in, and Judith, of course, did not understand well what was happening, except that her world was destroyed forever. To justify the girls' parents, I would like to say that in those days it was a common practice of working with "special" children. Today they evoke sympathy from those around them, there are specialists and programs to work with them, and in the post-war years they were placed in orphanages and isolated from healthy children, so as not to hinder their development. In addition, doctors believed that Judith was unlikely to live to adulthood. Her parents, too, could not survive this tragedy - her mother suffered for the remaining years from a sense of guilt, which gradually developed into a severe depression, and her father died a few years later from a heart attack. The deserted family was left on the verge of poverty.

Of course, in the orphanage where Judith was sent, a deaf girl who, in principle, could not pass oral tests, was ranked among the lowest level of development. There are not very many entries in her personal file, one of the first says:. Another tells of an episode that probably left a mark on the soul of a sick child forever: the teacher took the pencils from Judith when she tried to join a group of drawing children. The girl was told that she was mentally retarded and would not be able to draw. Many years later, this period of her life will be reflected by the world-famous artist in her work as incredibly dark works, full of vague symbols and loneliness.

Despite the financial problems in the family, the gifted and motivated Joyce was able to get a good education. She believed that her sister had died long ago, but all her life she tried to return this debt to her lost half. Joyce received her medical education and began working with children with Down syndrome, first as a nurse, then as a clinical psychologist, psychotherapist and developmental specialist. Gradually, she came to understand what a terrible mistake her parents had made. Trying to find salvation from this pain, the woman took up social activities. She has written many articles, spoke at international conferences, trying to prove to the whole world that "special" people need help and a "second chance" that they have potential that can be unleashed.

At 42, Joyce, as she later said, came to a real "revelation." She decided to find out about the fate of her long-lost sister, and if she really died long ago, at least visit her grave. Oddly enough, Joyce and Judith's mother, trapped in endless depression, was against this decisive step. It must have hurt too much to reopen the old wound, but Joyce was adamant. By this time she already had everything - education, beloved work, family, children, but she could not fill the void in her soul that remained after the loss of her sister. The woman began to make inquiries and quickly enough found a boarding school, where all these years Judith lived like a real prisoner.

Having met after 35 years of separation, the sisters first saw each other as adults. It turned out that now the external difference between them is huge - Judith almost did not grow, her height was a little more than a meter. Despite the lives lived far from each other, the twins seemed to have become one again. However, after a short date, Joyce had to leave. Judith could not understand this, and each meeting became a real test for both. Daughter Joyce, whom she sometimes took with her, described it as a real hell:. However, the real circles of the bureaucratic underworld awaited a courageous woman, who at that time was already actively arranging custody of her disabled sister. It was only in 1986 that Judith managed to leave the walls of the "prison" and finally move to her home.

For the unfortunate woman, whom the world had not given so much, a completely different life began. She was constantly next to her beloved sister, she took care of her, tried to rehabilitate her at least a little, and even enrolled Judith in the Creative Growth Art Center for developing arts for people with mental disabilities. It is surprising that this, at that time practically the only such institution, was located in their hometown. True, for the first two years, Judith went to class meekly, but not at all interested. Drawing, modeling and ceramics did not touch her at all. Everything changed in an instant when the woman got into classes with a textile artist. To the surprise of those around her, she immediately got involved in the work and created a completely unusual art object from threads, ropes and a willow base.

Psychologists believe that on that day, Judith Scott first "spoke" with the help of art - she found a form in which she could express her thoughts and feelings. Since that day, her life has changed radically. Now every day of the woman was filled with meaning and work. Early in the morning, as she came to work at the Center, she went to the office, where she was given a separate table, and took up her next creation. The employees of the Center allowed her to take any item or material she liked. The basis for the strange "cocoons" could be anything - a chair, a shopping carriage, a hairdryer of one of the workers, a button or a twig. Under the hands of a tiny invalid artist, they gradually turned into magical three-dimensional objects. The unique technique by which she entangled and tied them, increasing the "body" of these strange creatures of her imagination, hardly anyone can repeat.

The staff of the Center for the Disabled immediately realized that they had an incredible energy talent, and after a few years the experts recognized that Judith Scott's “cocoons” or “totems” are unique masterpieces comparable to the best creations of abstract artists. Starting in 1991, Judith's works began to be exhibited, gradually the largest museums around the world began to buy them, and today strange "sculptures" can be seen in galleries in New York, London and Paris, and their cost already reaches several tens of thousands of dollars. Judith herself probably had no idea about money and the fact that she became a person known throughout the world. In 2005, an unusual artist quietly left this world. Art critics now have to write books about her and guess to which of the art trends her masterpieces should be ranked. Judith Scott's creations are incredibly expressive. Someone does not like them, someone is delighted with them, but they do not leave indifferent. Some of the "sculptures" are joyful, filled with light and rustle of herbs, others are gloomy and dark, like the years of solitude spent in captivity. Many figures are repeated twice, like twins who reach out to each other and cannot find their half.