A TALENTED autistic artist is battling through her social anxiety by looking for artistic communities to join in Colchester.

Hannah Barker, 22, goes by the artist name Aurora and has been drawing and painting her whole life.

She was inspired to pursue the craft after receiving a letter from her school commending her work when she was six.

However, Hannah’s school years were made tough by social anxiety as she was diagnosed with severe anxiety and depression aged 12.

Hannah said: “In terms of my autism, I was actually diagnosed really late when I was 21. I’m about to turn 23 so it was a few years ago.

“I thought I had some sort of condition in my teens because my peers were growing out of certain types of behaviour but I wasn’t.

“I spent my whole life being told I was a drama queen and overly dramatic but I was just autistic and people didn’t know.”

Hannah did not complete all of her GCSEs and received no support at school for her autism as it was not diagnosed during her education.

However, she was pleased with her autism diagnosis and views it as a benefit to her art and life overall.

Hannah added: “Diagnosis was actually the biggest weight off my shoulder ever because I didn’t feel like I had to apologise for the way I was anymore.

“I believe it makes me better at my art because I hyper-fixate on my work and I think I see the world differently because of my autism.”

Hannah describes herself as a portrait artist as she loves to draw people that inspire her.

She is currently working on a self-portrait for a TV competition and often draws celebrities in pop culture who are unique and self-assured.

Hannah previously worked as a tattoo artist with her own studio but fell out of love with the work because she felt it was too restrictive.

She said: “A tattoo artist is the only stable job you can have as an artist but it wasn’t really for me.

“I don’t enjoy doing commissioned work because I noticed I was making art for money and not for the love of the craft.

“I love art in general and I’d like to try landscape this year, another reason I really enjoy landscapes is the sort of work I would do as a tattoo artist.

“A lot of my clients would ask for cartoon characters for example which can be really restrictive but with my portraits, people’s faces move a lot so I found out I had more scope to be creative.

“With portraits I can look at the undertones of a painting instead of the base colour, I can morph the face shape by bringing those colours forward.”

Hannah also views art as an outlet and coping mechanism for her anxiety and depression and she is looking for other artists who love the craft like she does.

She added: “Creating art calms my mind, I don’t really go out a lot so I spend a lot of time drawing and painting at home.

“I’m looking for a safe and friendly art community but a lot of the one’s I’ve seen involve some sort of alcohol which I’m not into.”

For more information on Hannah’s artwork visit facebook.com/hannah.aurora.39 and bit.ly/3HhSNGl.