Banksy Welcome Mat, by warhol75 on Oct 2, 2023 19:30:33 GMT 1, Thought Id share my Welcome Mat framing and how it helped inspire work I had for an exhibition. Im not that lucky a person but when I received the email from Love Welcomes to say I had won a mat I was mildly ecstatic. The framing cost $500 but it was def worth it. I received the mat before I started an artist residency here in Australia and you can see the direct correlation between the mat and my work highlighting two very dark themes. The mat well we know the story but my bed supposedly a welcoming place of rest and relaxation was far from welcoming for a period not so long ago as I was addicted to codeine and fell back into drug addiction so my bed wasnt a refuge of rest any longer as it was an island that like the drugs kept me separated from the world because the drugs kept me in a perpetual numbed state. While at uni studying art I researched childhood trauma which is what a lot of my work is based in and its the research that triggered my dependency for about 5 years. Nearing the time I got clean again Id realised that its art and my childhood trauma that could lift the dark cloud that has followed me all my life. The show was called Dark Rituals/Weightless.
If you have a problem with drugs or alcohol there is a way out of that rabbit hole you just need to find what works for you. For me it's art, AA and NA.

Thought Id share my Welcome Mat framing and how it helped inspire work I had for an exhibition. Im not that lucky a person but when I received the email from Love Welcomes to say I had won a mat I was mildly ecstatic. The framing cost $500 but it was def worth it. I received the mat before I started an artist residency here in Australia and you can see the direct correlation between the mat and my work highlighting two very dark themes. The mat well we know the story but my bed supposedly a welcoming place of rest and relaxation was far from welcoming for a period not so long ago as I was addicted to codeine and fell back into drug addiction so my bed wasnt a refuge of rest any longer as it was an island that like the drugs kept me separated from the world because the drugs kept me in a perpetual numbed state. While at uni studying art I researched childhood trauma which is what a lot of my work is based in and its the research that triggered my dependency for about 5 years. Nearing the time I got clean again Id realised that its art and my childhood trauma that could lift the dark cloud that has followed me all my life. The show was called Dark Rituals/Weightless.
If you have a problem with drugs or alcohol there is a way out of that rabbit hole you just need to find what works for you. For me it's art, AA and NA.