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Outlook: Drawing is my language: the artist who recreates cities from memory

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Drawing is my language: the artist who recreates cities from memory

07/04/2022 GMT

BBC World Service - Outlook, Drawing is my language: the artist who recreates cities from memory

Austistic savant Stephen Wiltshire has a gift for drawing the world in perfect detail

Stephen Wiltshire is an autistic, artistic savant with a gift for drawing the world around him in perfect detail

Stephen Wiltshire was born in London in 1974, and diagnosed with autism when he was three. Mute until he was five, he was sent to a specialist school where his teachers soon noticed his prodigious talent for drawing. His passion was buildings - the more complicated, the better - and he would recreate them in intricate detail on the page, often from memory.  His rare gift astounded the world, and flung Stephen into the spotlight as a child. He was recognised as an 'artistic savant' - someone with extraordinary visual talents - and as a teenager he travelled the world, drawing famous international landmarks. Today, he continues to work as an artist, and is best known for drawing vast, panoramic cityscapes entirely from memory. He and his sister Annette tell Emily Webb about his journey.  

As a boy growing up in the west African country of Gabon, Luc Bendza only had one interest - Kung Fu. He and his best friends would avidly watch action stars Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan and act out all the moves. But Luc didn't want to leave it at that and his obsession with Kung Fu films led him to seek out the men who could ‘fly.’ He now lives in China and works as an actor and martial artist. (This interview was first broadcast in 2017) 

Get in touch: outlook@bbc.com

(Photo: Stephen Wiltshire drawing a panorama of Mexico City in 2016. Credit: Daniel Cardenas/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)

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