Pictures of Susan

When society strips you of your voice, can you hope for a second chance? One woman's extraordinary journey out of the darkness. Auckland 'outsider artist' Susan King stopped talking when she was four. Her grandmother recognized the little girl's talent for drawing and kept her supplied with colored pencils and paper. For 20 years Susan expressed herself in thousands of artworks filled with playfulness, curiosity and terror. Then she stopped drawing. Her pictures were carefully packed away into boxes. She had 20 years of silence before she drew again. Now, the dealer world has discovered Susan's art Brut. A 2009 Sydney show has garnered international demand with an ethical quandary for the family who can only guess at Susan's wishes.