2018 EXHIBITION BY THE ARTISTS OF THE UNITING MEDICALLY SUPERVISED INJECTING CENTRE
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2018 EXHIBITION BY THE ARTISTS OF THE UNITING MEDICALLY SUPERVISED INJECTING CENTRE
Art from the Heart of the Cross 2018 “This exhibition reminds people in the local community that clients who visit the injecting centre are people first and foremost, all with different skills, talents, and a story to tell.” Dr Marianne Jauncey Medical Director of Uniting MSIC 2
BEHIND Welcome
Art from the Heart of the Cross is an annual exhibition
EVERY showcasing the diverse artistic talents of people who visit
the Uniting Medically Supervised Injecting Centre (MSIC).
PAINTING
The first supervised injecting centre in the Southern
Hemisphere and the English-speaking world, Uniting MSIC
opened its doors in the heart of Kings Cross in 2001. Since
IS A
then, the service has provided safe and compassionate
care for some of the most marginalised and disenfranchised
members of our community.
POWERFUL Uniting MSIC is a place where people can use drugs under
the supervision of medical staff and health professionals,
with the provision of emergency care if required, and access
STORY to broader health services including pathways to treatment
and rehabilitation. We take the time to build relationships,
so that people know we’re here when they’re ready and able
to seek support.
Every year the centre also runs a four-week art project,
giving clients the opportunity to express themselves and
EXHIBITION LAUNCH their circumstances creatively. An empowering aspect of the
1 September 2-4pm project is the public display and silent auction of artworks in
Wayside Chapel the Art from the Heart of the Cross exhibition.
29 Hughes St | Potts Point
Now in its eighth year, everyone is welcome at this powerful
and thought-provoking exhibition and everyone is invited
EXHIBITION CONTINUES
to bid at the silent auction.
3-28 September
The ArtHouse Hotel All proceeds go directly to the artists. Art from the Heart
275 Pitt St | Sydney of the Cross is a not-for-profit initiative of Uniting MSIC.
ONLINE BIDDING CLOSES Find out how to buy the artworks on the back page of
2 October this catalogue.
3
001 002 003
004 005 006
001. 002. 003. 004. 005. 006.
Silence Untitled The Sun Untitled 1 Untitled 2 Untitled 3
4D Aaron Adam Adam Adam Adam
Acrylic on canvas Acrylic on canvas Acrylic on canvas Acrylic on canvas Acrylic on canvas Acrylic on canvas
20 x 20 cm 30 x 40 cm 50 x 50 cm 50 x 50 cm 50 x 50 cm 50 x 50 cm
4
008 009
007
011
010 012
007. 008. 009. 010. 011. 012.
Untitled 4 Untitled Three Aliens Twins 1 Diptych Twins 2 Diptych Holy Mystic
Adam Andrew and a Club Ashik Ashik Ashik
Acrylic on canvas Acrylic on canvas Andrew Acrylic on canvas Acrylic on canvas Acrylic on canvas
30 x 40 cm 30 x 40 cm Acrylic on canvas 20 x 20 cm 20 x 20 cm 30 x 40 cm
20 x 20 cm For me painting
I painted Three is a journey and
Aliens and a Club. the finished
It is to do with a product is divine
child and a recent gorgeousness.
vision.
5
013 014 015
016 017 018
013. 014. 015. 016. 017. 018.
Metaphysical Mysterious Untitled I planted a Why Couldn’t Never Thought
Ashik Walks of Life Bernard seed (I am still I Cry I Would
Acrylic on canvas Ben Acrylic on canvas growing from the Ceejay Ceejay
50 x 50 cm Acrylic on canvas 30 x 40 cm darkness) Acrylic on canvas Acrylic on canvas
50 x 50 cm Ceejay 15 x 15 cm 15 x 15 cm
Acrylic on canvas
50 x 60 cm
6
019 020
021
022 023
024
019. 020. 021. 022. 023. 024.
Part-time Present Moment Drifting Part-time Red Light Red Light
Schizophrenia Ceejay Ceejay Schizophrenia District 1 District 2
(We Don’t Need Acrylic on canvas Acrylic on canvas Ceejay Ceejay Ceejay
No Medication) 25 x 25 cm 15 x 20 cm Acrylic on canvas Acrylic on canvas Acrylic on canvas
Ceejay 20 x 20 cm 25 x 20 cm 25 x 20 cm
Acrylic on canvas
40 x 40 cm
7
025 026 027
029
028 030
025. 026. 027. 028. 029. 030.
Balance Little Twisted Metamorphosis Dragon Orange The First Creations of
Ceejay Sister Charlie Chumphon Fantasy Abraham and Womeneve
Acrylic on Ceejay Acrylic on canvas Origami Chumphon Cyndell
canvas Acrylic on 50 x 50 cm sculpture Acrylic on Acrylic on canvas
25 x 25 cm canvas 22x16cm canvas 30 x 40 cm
51 x 26 cm 20 x 20 cm
This is a picture of a female spirit,
which is sort of giving birth into a
Billabong. It is a spiritual drawing.
8
031 032 033
034 035
031. 032. 033. 034. 035.
Untitled 1 Untitled 2 Silver Cloud Golden Sunset Athens Burning
Dave Dave Edward Edward Edward
Acrylic on canvas Acrylic on canvas Acrylic on canvas Acrylic on canvas Acrylic on canvas
30 x 40 cm 30 x 40 cm 20 x 20 cm 20 x 20 cm 30 x 40 cm
9
036 037 038
039 040 041
036. 037. 038. 039. 040. 041.
Diamonds Untitled Water falling School Our God is White Unknown Creatures
in the Sky Edward Emily Emily Fatty Heidi
Edward Acrylic on Acrylic, ink, glass Acrylic on Acrylic on canvas Acrylic on canvas
Acrylic on canvas beads on canvas canvas panel 20 x 20 cm 50 x 50 cm
canvas 50 x 50 cm panel 51 x 40 cm
Our drug is our God, This painting represents a
30 x 40 cm 30 x 30 cm
and that drug is white. galaxy with planets and a lot of
unknown creatures of the night.
10042 043 044
045 046
042. 043. 044. 045. 046.
Silhouette Halley’s Comet Abstract Homeless in Untitled
Heidi Heidi Heidi the Cold Jes
Acrylic on canvas Acrylic on canvas Acrylic on canvas James Acrylic on canvas
20 x 20 cm 20 x 20 cm 20 x 20 cm Acrylic and oil 30 x 40 cm
I use art to cope with my schizophrenia on canvas
and voices that I occasionally hear. 30 x 40 cm
Doing art is very therapeutic for me.
11047 048 049
051 052
050
047. 048. 049. 050. 051. 052.
Paint in my Veins Heart of Life On the Edge Metamorphosis Metamorphosis
Josh the Cross Katie Knoxville 1 2
Acrylic on canvas Joy Acrylic on Acrylic on Knoxville Knoxville
50 x 50 cm Acrylic on canvas canvas Acrylic on canvas Acrylic on canvas
canvas 20 x 20 cm 40 x 60 cm 60 x 60 cm 60 x 60 cm
I wanted to do a painting with MSIC
“tools” to distribute the paint all over 20 x 20 cm
the canvas. I wanted to catch the
spirit of MSIC and harm reduction
philosophy in this painting.
12053 054 055
056 058
057
053. 054. 055. 056. 057. 058.
Snowtime Confused Cat Splatters My Mother’s Totem (left Women’s Love
Lani Lani Lauren me in pieces when she died) Strength Lynore
Acrylic on canvas Acrylic on canvas Pencil on canvas Katie Lotus Acrylic on
20 x 20 cm 20 x 20 cm 30 x 40 cm Acrylic on canvas Pencil on canvas
20 x 20 cm canvas 30 x 40 cm
I’ve never been to This cat is confused
the snow, it’s like a because she The turtle is my mother’s totem. She 30 x 40 cm
Wonder Land. doesn’t know if left me in pieces when she died.
she will get a good
home or not.
13059 060 061
062
063 064
059. 060. 061. 062. 063. 064.
Angst Techno Multicultural Rainbow Dummu Badja Emotional Scar
Maddy Confusion Roots Marley Marley Tissue
Pen on Mark Marley Acrylic on Acrylic on canvas Marley
canvas Acrylic on Acrylic on canvas canvas 50 x 60 cm Acrylic on canvas
20 x 20 cm A3 paper 20 x 20 cm 30 x 40 cm 30 x 40 cm
Means a strong feeling
I’m not black, I’m in the chest. Dummu = Through life we are dealt
not white - I’m chest. Badja = Feeling. many emotional trials,
what colour I am. Dumma Badja is a place, and sometimes they can
a waterfall and is a overcome us.
sacred women’s story.
14065 066 067
068 069 070
065. 066. 067. 068. 069. 070.
Caterpillar Dreaming Libido New Untitled Confusion Colours
Marley Melissa Beginning Michael Michelle Michelle
Pen on A4 paper Acrylic on Michelle Acrylic on Acrylic on Acrylic on canvas
canvas Acrylic on canvas canvas 35 x 28 cm
Through life we are dealt many 25 x 31 cm canvas 20 x 20 cm 50 x 50 cm
emotional trials, and sometimes 30 x 40 cm We believe we are
they can overcome us. different, but we are more
alike than we think.
15071 072 073
074 075
071. 072. 073. 074. 075.
Travelling in Circles Healing My Footprints Universe Happy Times
Michelle Michelle Michelle Michelle Michelle
Acrylic on canvas Acrylic on canvas Acrylic on canvas Acrylic on canvas Acrylic on canvas
30 x 40 cm 50 x 50 cm 50 x 50 cm 50 x 50 cm 30 x 40 cm
This is the landscape of my life – all the
paths I’ve walked and all the crossroads
I have been at.
16076 077 078
079
080 081
076. 077. 078. 079. 080. 081.
Hindsight Sir John Selfie Sapiosexual Omar is Off Limits
Mike Monash Mike Mike Coming Mike
Oil pastels Mike Oil pastels Oil pastels and aquarelle on A3 paper Mike Oil pastels and
and aquarelle Oil pastels and aquarelle Oil pastels and aquarelle on A3
on A3 paper and aquarelle on A4 paper I love the chiaroscuro, dark aquarelle on A3 paper
on A3 paper backgrounds with the face illuminated. paper
17082 083 084
085 086
082. 083. 084. 085. 086.
No experience no regrets Mural 1 Mural 2 Mad and Sad Isolation in
all expectation Mike Mike Mike Company
Mike Oil pastels and Oil pastels and Oil pastels and Mike
Oil pastels and aquarelle on aquarelle on aquarelle on aquarelle on Oil pastels and
A3 paper A3 paper A3 paper A3 paper aquarelle on
A4 paper
18087 088
089 090 091
087. 088. 089. 090. 091.
Henri Charrière Desperate Henry Johnson Beautiful Aboriginal Anger
Mike Man by Mike Woman Management
Oil pastels and Gustave Oil pastels and Mike Mike
aquarelle paper Courbet aquarelle on A3 paper Oil pastels and Oil pastels and
60 x 20 cm Mike aquarelle on aquarelle on
He was an African-American A3 paper A3 paper
Oil pastels and
This is a portrait of Henri soldier in the Great War,
aquarelle on enormously brave and
Charrière, famous for Trevor Noah was
escaping three times from A3 paper really humble. just wrong.
Devil’s Island jail.
19092 093 094
095 096 097
092. 093. 094. 095. 096. 097.
Rain Forest Heart Break Botany Bay 1 Botany Bay 2 Botany Bay 3
Mike Mike Mike Triptych Triptych Triptych
Oil on canvas Oil paint, Oil pastels and aquarelle Mike Mike Mike
75 x 100 cm spray paint on A3 paper Acrylic on canvas Acrylic on canvas Acrylic on canvas
and pastels 30 x 40 cm 30 x 40 cm 30 x 40 cm
on canvas An addict often hurts those
85 x 112 cm who are nearest and dearest
the most.
20098 099 100
101 102 103
098. 099. 100. 101. 102. 103.
Untitled Untitled 2 Untitled 3 Untitled Family Untitled
Mortisha Mortisha Mortisha Napier Napier Natasha
Acrylic on canvas Acrylic on Acrylic on Acrylic on Acrylic on Acrylic on
50 x 50 cm canvas canvas canvas canvas canvas
20 x 20 cm 20 x 20 cm 50 x 50 cm 20 x 20 cm 50 x 50 cm
Things need to get in order.
21104 105
106 107
104. 105. 106. 107.
Shark Attack Shooting Star Technicolour Grass BatFrog
Nico Nico Nico Nico
Acrylic on canvas Acrylic on canvas Acrylic on canvas Acrylic on canvas
50 x 50 cm 50 x 50 cm 50 x 50 cm 20 x 20 cm
The blue colour of a staff
member’s jumper inspired me
to do this painting.
22109
110
108
108. 109. 110.
Clinical Waste Diptych Clinical Waste Diptych Untitled
Nico Nico Pat
Acrylic on plastic 79 x 100 cm Acrylic on canvas Acrylic on canvas
20 x 20 cm 30 x 40 cm
23111 112
112
113 114
111. 112. 113. 114.
Intergalactic Adventure 1 Intergalactic Intergalactic Intergalactic
Ramon Adventure 2 Adventure 3 Adventure 4
Acrylic on canvas Ramon Ramon Ramon
20 x 26 cm Acrylic on canvas Acrylic on canvas Acrylic on canvas
20 x 26 cm 20 x 26 cm 20 x 26 cm
An intergalactic adventure through time and space.
The different colours represent four seasons as
experienced by other planets and sections of the
solar system.
24115 116 117
118 119 120
115. 116. 117. 118. 119. 120.
Red Lizard We are all Despair Half Love Untitled
Napier one Spacey Rainbow Vanessa Wayne
Rebecca Renea Acrylic on canvas Vanessa Acrylic on Acrylic on
Acrylic on Acrylic on 20 x 20 cm Acrylic on canvas canvas
canvas canvas canvas 20 x 20 cm 20 x 20 cm
20 x 20 cm 30 x 40 cm My painting represents despair; 20 x 20 cm
that is what I feel when I am
separated from her. She is the
love of my life and the best
relationship I have ever had.
25121 122
123
121. 122. 123.
All It Takes The Effects of CSA A Promise of God
Taz Taz Taz
Acrylic on canvas Acrylic on canvas Acrylic on canvas
50 x 50 cm 50 x 50 cm 30 x 40 cm
And in the beginning He said CSA means child sexual assault. I was inspired by a t-shirt I was given by a friend
“Let there be light” - and there I was sexually assaulted as a child when we were cleaning a mate’s place in Redfern
was. A single candle is all it for 12 years, from the age of 5-17. - he had recently died. My painting resembles this
takes to banish the darkness. The hole represents the hole left t-shirt. The Alpha and Omega are the beginning and
in me. the end - we never know where and when we start
and end.
26124 125
126 127 128
124. 125. 126. 127. 128.
Tribes Looking for Water Rainbow Serpent Tribes Love Hate
Tracey Tracey Tracey Zane Zane
Acrylic on canvas Acrylic on canvas Acrylic on canvas Acrylic on Acrylic on
62 x 91 cm 30 x 40 cm 50 x 50 cm canvas canvas
30 x 40 cm 30 x 40 cm
This painting depicts different One day the Rainbow Serpent This painting is about us
tribes all searching for water. awoke and came out from Aboriginal people searching
The tribes are from North- beneath the earth. Refreshed for water – finding water, from
Western Australia. from her long slumber, she tribe to tribe.
travelled far and wide leaving
winding tracks.
27129. 130.
Unnamed Chasms of Darkness
Ellissa Ellissa
Friday The light has now faded
The darkness enfolds
A crime is too blind my heart is now chasms
A sick twisted mind only blackness it holds
Be that yours or be that mine A road travelled dearly
It’s quite OK you won’t be fine. now unusually cold
Speaking this whilst cutting inside what recently conquered
Feeling blood tasting divine will now devour my soul.
No one hears or sees this time As once it has entered
The life in you drizzling by my breath will not hold
Endless pain in glory of name fork tongue like poison
Is this normal or insane am I I will never grow old.
Still the blood still trickling by As now it’s injected
Ebb and flow arousing me high it will kill my soul
Started it did with a tear of mine this for me not again
Ended now as the blood runs dry merely only once more
Bathed in glory passage through time I say forgive me
Never dead never alive a world pass by embracing death at my door
Immortalized in history as the infamous guy. on a journey together
a soul parts this world
for my light has now faded
and the darkness takes hold.
28131. 132.
Hooked Love
Josh Yoshi
You’ll do anythin’ just to get a few bob, Love
For meth, heroin, cocaine or pot. Love is like a white Dove
You inject, snort, swallow or smoke, Flying over a crystal clear ocean,
Whichever way, it’s not a joke. With the moon hovering high above
But when you inject into your vein, But the love we both share
It takes away all of your pain. is like rose in the hot sun,
Before you know, you’re on your way, it doesn’t survive,
You’re flying straight into another day. but will be with me
You want more drugs but you can’t think, till the day I die.
You’re slowing right down, starting to sink.
You shake, can’t breathe, you’re dizzy as can be,
The headaches, the panic, you can hardly see.
Before you know, you’re falling to the ground,
Your head is spinning round and round.
Then all of a sudden everything goes black,
Till you wake up lying on your back.
You’re in a place you’ve never been,
With people that you’ve never seen.
Hospital staff are worried about your health,
You wanna kill them all, before killing yourself.
As you lean up in bed, trying to sit,
You promise yourself, this time you’ll quit.
No more drugs ever, you keep telling yourself,
But then you find some on your shelf.
Before you know it, you’re taking more stuff,
You want it again to feel real tough.
From high to low, then high again,
Blackness is all that is seen.
Till finally one day you die,
It’s the highest you’ve ever been...
29133. 134.
Mirror Mirror Just Another Drug Song
Burt Philip
My mind has mirrors which reflect me A man sits alone in his room
One shows me my tragic imagery His only companions
Oh how I would banish thee to the relief of time His needle and spoon
But my attempts flare Looks out the window
And you intensify to mock It’s a beautiful day
Leaving me impotent He gets the taste
And but a shadow of you To go out and play
Take heed my healing nemesis In a dream he sleeps it away
As your existence is on notice He never meant to misbehave
For when my sorrows I have lit Life means nothing when you’re a slave.
Your imagery will dim and die
This I concede most passionately to you. May-be right
May-be wrong
It’s just another drug song.
A woman lays on a hotel bed
Bad thoughts running through her head
She’s not looking for comfort
Doesn’t want to be charmed
Just needs that money to feed her arm
She never meant to misbehave
The rules change when you’re a slave.
May-be right
May-be wrong
It’s just another drug song.
All my friends are dead or dying
Their bodies are scarred
And their brains are frying
If I said I was shocked
Then I would be lying
The bed they made
They now lie in.
They never meant to misbehave
They’ll take that with them to the grave.
May-be right
May-be wrong
It’s just another drug song.
30135. 136.
Strange Dream The Tourist
Phillip Phillip
I had a strange dream They’ve been told of an island
About ghost-ships and slaves With fantastic ocean views
Face-less people and unmarked graves Everything is shiny
Heard women scream and guns firing Everything is new
Saw a mob standing round a body dying
Heard mothers cry and their children were stolen Paradise awaits
And the lies the missionaries told them For the chosen few
Saw sad eyes staring The rest just faces
As they rape their land Waiting in a queue
Drugs and alcohol get passed from white hands.
But don’t despair
Heard the hum of a didgeridoo We’ll show we care
At a nearby corroboree We are true blue
A story was told about a man We’ll squeeze you in
Who one day Down old Nauru.
Would make them pay for their robbery.
Saw storm clouds brewing So they sail the sea
Over the Great Southern Land. To escape their fate
Murder, hate, dictatorship and rape.
Spirits race at the thief Innocent people
And mourn for the lost Lives at stake
The Rainbow Serpent
Dances under the South Cross. Sell their soul to the
Smuggling man
Their life, hope, gold
Their land
For in advance
Their visas stamped
Do the best you can.
31012. 030. 041.
Holy Mystic The First Creations of Unknown Creatures
Ashik Abraham and Womeneve Heidi
Acrylic on canvas Cyndell Acrylic on canvas
30 x 40 cm Acrylic on canvas 50 x 50 cm
30 x 40 cm
I don’t have a story because I paint This painting represents a galaxy with
abstracts and my art comes from some This is a picture of a female spirit, which planets and a lot of unknown creatures
special place - I don’t know where is sort of giving birth into a Billabong. of the night. They are lost in space and
from… My motto is divine abstraction, It is a spiritual drawing. There are a lot the only thing they can think of is green
because you can plan as much as you of things, there are other forces out piss. They want to be free from space.
want, the paintings have their journey there. The Quinkin that stands behind The faces around the green house are:
and a life of their own. For me painting the Tree of Life, she will stand her Gorilla, Apeman, Tim Toe Soldier and
is a journey and the finished product is ground especially when there are other the Mythical Ghost of the holy lights.
divine gorgeousness. forces around. Then there is a Space Invader who
enjoys the heat of the sun. A comet
Standing on the right hand side of is falling into the alien’s planet through
her are the Queen and the King of the the atmosphere.
Commonwealth, who have granted her
the golden rose badge seal that gives her
the privilege to enter the first Creator’s
heart that will grant her the will to do as
she wishes. And that is this painting now.
I painted this because it was something
I wanted to get out. What great lengths
I had to go to, to ‘close the gap’ as
others say, but to me it was like another
big bang to get to you, to tell you the
truth. It wasn’t falling down, it was falling
up. It’s a message to tell God what
people are doing on earth.
When I look at this painting it makes me
feel very cold because it’s the truth, but
others think I am crazy.
32043. 047. 056.
Halley’s Comet Paint in my Veins My Mother’s Totem
Heidi Josh (left me in pieces when
Acrylic on canvas Acrylic on canvas she died)
20 x 20 cm 50 x 50 cm Katie
Acrylic on canvas
I use art to cope with my schizophrenia I wanted to do a painting with MSIC 20 x 20 cm
and voices that I occasionally hear. If “tools” - so instead of brushes I used
I am trying to ignore it – it becomes barrels, syringes and needles to
The parts that make up this turtle are
stronger and eventually overwhelms me. distribute the paint all over the canvas.
broken, and that’s because I feel like
But when I turn it into art, when I try to I wanted to catch the spirit of MSIC
I am broken. Sometimes I feel like I’m
paint or write on the paper all the sounds and harm reduction philosophy in
at a crossroads, sometimes I feel like
and thoughts that I hear in my head this painting.
I’m going around in circles. The turtle is
– it gets better. Doing art is very
my mother’s totem. She left me in pieces
therapeutic for me. Split personality is
when she died.
when your mind has one entity and your
body another.
33061. 065. 070.
Multicultural Roots Caterpillar Dreaming Colours
Marley Marley Michelle
Acrylic on canvas Pen on A4 paper Acrylic on canvas
20 x 20 cm 35 x 28 cm
This reminds me of a dear memory of my
I’m not black, I’m not white - I’m grandfather and our time at Caterpillar This represents the togetherness of the
what colour I am. And I am proud of Waterfalls. There is a story, of just world. We believe we are different, but
my background, no matter what the how there is the metamorphosis of a we are more alike than we think. We all
history, because all of that put together beetle into a witchetty grub, so is the come together no matter what colour
ultimately makes up Marley, and if I were metamorphosis of a boy into a man. our skin is.
to hate any parts of the roots, it would be
like hating myself. To conclude, growing The black spiral represents the deep
up in a very racist society where people waterhole my grandfather took me to.
did not see me as indigenous or white. There is a mythical creature called Yirru
I felt like I have lack of identity, and it - it comes out of the waterhole and
makes me feel very lost at times. makes a loud noise like thunder, which
begins the monsoon season. Yirru lies
dormant with its mouth open, and things
on the side of the waterhole get washed
into its mouth. This is very dear to me
and I want to pass the story down but
don’t have the words - so this picture
helps me to express it.
34079. 087. 089.
Sapiosexual Henri Charrière Henry Johnson
Mike Mike Mike
Oil pastels and aquarelle Oil pastels and aquarelle paper Oil pastels and aquarelle
on A3 paper 60 x 20 cm on A3 paper
I love the chiaroscuro, dark backgrounds Dreaming of freedom, the Butterfly He was an African-American soldier
with the face illuminated. Rembrandt (Papillon). This is a portrait of Henri in the Great War, enormously brave
would use this style often - it’s also the Charrière, famous for escaping three and really humble. The injustice of the
way addicts see people. times from Devil’s Island jail. American system: he was given the
Croix de Guerre in 1918 by France, while
his own country didn’t recognise him
until the 21st century, finally being given
the Medal of Honor by President Obama.
35way; that my coping mechanisms
- drug use and hoarding - are not
working. I need to change something.
The Art project helped me to
acknowledge the problem I have and
find the courage to look for the solution.
I started counselling sessions that
will hopefully help me to work on my
problematic drug use and hoarding.
117. 122. I wouldn’t have been able to do that
Despair The Effects of CSA without all the hours and days spent
painting at MSIC.
Spacey Taz
Acrylic on canvas Acrylic on canvas The hole in my painting is the hole in
20 x 20 cm 50 x 50 cm my heart that cannot be filled with any
material thing - not with drugs nor the
I don’t do much art. I tried it once while I have a home but I am sleeping rough. items I keep on dragging into my house.
I was in jail, and this is the second time I can’t stay in my house, I can’t be on It is a hole in my life that being sexually
I decided to try something really simple my own in that house, it makes me abused as a child made. Now I have an
but nice. My wife loves to paint and to suicidal... I need to go out and be among idea of what I can fill that hole with, in a
participate in the Art project, and I did people. For the last 30 years I’ve been way that no drugs or possessions can.
this painting more because I wanted to afraid to fall asleep alone because of It was a God shaped vacuum and now
support her and do something nice for the nightmares I have about the sexual I’m able to acknowledge and accept
her… but she is the main artist here. abuse in my childhood. It determined that. He walks with me, beside me or
My painting represents despair; that is my life and caused my addictions - carries me.... I am on the way there...
what I feel when I am separated from her. drug dependence and hoarding. In my and when I get there I will tell you what
She is the love of my life and the best nightmares those assaults happen over it is. It was such a cathartic experience
relationship I have ever had. and over again. I use ice because I need and an extremely spiritual journey for me.
to fully exhaust myself in order to get to The Art project has opened a floodgate
sleep without having nightmares. of creativity and put me in a place where
I’m no longer ashamed of or afraid of my
The Art project and all the painting I did past, but I am able to confront it head-on
has ignited an important process inside and seek the professional help I need to
me. I surprised myself; I realised for the help me understand the complexities of
first time in my life that I was able to the issues I haven’t had the courage to
sit down and do something (painting) face before.
for hours without thinking about using
drugs. I thank MSIC and every member of staff
for being there when I needed them.
I expressed my childhood trauma I wouldn’t be in this place or head-space
through my painting. I wasn’t planning right now if not for them or the facility.
to, it just happened. I was able to It’s impacted dramatically on my drug
acknowledge my anger, frustration and use as well, because since the beginning
fear in a new way, in a constructive way, of August I’ve only used 6 or 7 times;
and it made me realise all my life I have instead of 2-3 times a day. Now all I want
dealt with my problems in a destructive to do is paint my feelings.
36125.
Rainbow Serpent
Tracey
Acrylic on canvas
30 x 40 cm
Long ago in the Dreamtime, when the
earth lay sleeping and nothing moved
or grew, lived the Rainbow Serpent.
Then one day the Rainbow Serpent
awoke and came out from beneath the
earth. Refreshed from her long slumber,
she travelled far and wide leaving
winding tracks from her huge body
and then returning to the place she
had first appeared.
[This is the beginning of a longer story
about the Rainbow Serpent – it was
she that caused all the waterways in
Australia to form.]
37Buy something powerful. Thank you to our judges
All Art from the Heart of the Cross artworks are Dr Mary Harrod
for sale as framed, and all proceeds go directly CEO, NSW Users and Aids Association
to the artists. The artworks are sold to the (NUAA)
highest bidder via a silent auction.
Tina Havelock Stevens
To own one of these inspirational artworks, Artist
go to uniting.org/artfromtheheart, click on
your favourite painting and you’ll be directed Lisa Sharp
to the bidding page. Artist
Leon Fernandes
Let us know how much you’d like to pay and
Artist
we’ll get in touch if you’re the highest bidder.
If there are two equally high bids, we’ll draw
Gavin Mate
a name out of a hat.
Head of Aboriginal Services
and Development, Uniting
Silent auction closes 2 October 2018 and then
we’ll get in touch with the highest bidders. Sarah Hiley
Harm Reduction Practitioner
And if your heart’s set on something after Team Leader
bidding has closed, let us know at Medically Supervised Injecting Room
uniting.org/artfromtheheart and we’ll check (MSIR), North Richmond Community
if it’s still available for you. Health Centre, Melbourne
Thank you for supporting the inspirational The staff at the Uniting Medically
Uniting MSIC artists. Supervised Injecting Centre
38Thank you to our sponsors
darren taylor catering
39uniting.org/artfromtheheart
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