Tying your own shoes

“My name is Petra Tolley. I’m 36, and don’t worry, I’m fine.” Tying Your Own Shoes explores how it feels to be a little bit unusual. Directed by award-winning filmmaker Shira Avni, this animated documentary provides an intimate glimpse into the exceptional mindsets and emotional lives of four adult artists with Down syndrome. Petra, Matthew, Katherine and Daninah’s artworks are combined with footage from interviews to blur philosophical lines between personal power and “disability”. Their first-person narratives challenge widely-believed stereotypes about Down syndrome. Their stories are direct, hard-hitting and wondrous, conveying each artist’s individual attitudes to create a touching, four-way essay about ability.