Rabbiting On
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I remember being called a Duracell rabbit as a child. The messaging confused me – by comparing me to this adorable, energetic battery mascot, adults were indicating that my behaviour was unacceptable and that I needed to correct it.
But what if I didn’t? What if, instead of wasting energy on trying to suppress my energy, my impulses, my personality, I chose to fully embody the Duracell rabbit role? If, instead of covering my face with a normative mask to hide my ADHD, I donned a pink rabbit mask?
What if you did it too?
Rabbiting On is an installation that uses light, sound, still and moving image, text, ready-mades and found objects, prescription medications, sculptures and masks. The pink rabbit masks were made by 15 participants in a series of paper mache workshops I hosted between January and April 2025, only open to ADHDers, free to unmask together and speak and create without having to adapt to neurotypical social norms. It was those conversations (often not just what was said, but how it was said) during those months that lay the foundation for the installation.
By weaving together our shared narratives with my own artwork as well as childhood belongings, I am expanding the idea of the ADHDer as a Duracell rabbit, by exploring how the rabbit itself has been characterised and stereotyped.
By playing up rather than playing down some stereotypes that create our shared experiences of ADHD stigma, this approach becomes both self-empowering and self-exploiting.
”This room is so cool! It makes me feel super calm and super stressed at the same time!”
L, 9-year old ADHDer
@jakobniedziela
jakobniedziela.wordpress.com
