Freedom 

Around three and a half years ago I heard a man tell a story about living a life of homelessness, alcohol misuse and other issues surrounding such a lifestyle.

He spoke very movingly about living in makeshift accommodation and mentioned that at one point that he had lived in a tree in a wooded area. He described how people would come from a church nearby to drop clothes off, play songs and help anyone who needed assistance as best they could. He said that they were persistent with these visits.

Eventually, after many years he came down one day from his makeshift dwelling, joined this welcoming  church and was rehabilitated. He became a born again Christian. He spoke briefly about this huge step that he had made at a time when he didn't even know how to feel about clean clothes. He didn't have a routine as such; he didn't have expectations. However, he had heard the call of the people ministering kindness and freedom, and decided to come down and take a step of faith.

A couple of weeks after hearing the guy speak, I became really strongly inspired to visualise where he had been and how he had felt. So I started drawing and painting digitally. Initially, I just thought that it was great as a stimulus for painting and drawing again. Over the years the drawings have grown to number nearly 70, at different stages both of the story and in their artistic development.

I deliberately did not contact him again, because I fundamentally knew that the project was not about how well I could illustrate his story, but about providing people with an opportunity to consider where they fitted into such a story. The drawings have spoken to different people in amazing ways.

In my most recent works on paper you are going to witness a drawing or painting which is an expression of

‘..…Freedom…..’ 

My foremost hope is that each piece you see in this show points to freedom, and allows you, above all else, to take time to consider where you are in your journey.