Hello and welcome to Our second odyssey through art.
In the year 2000, I had been living with my brother, his new wife, and my two nephews. It had been some time since having seen any family member - through choice of my own. One weekend my eldest sister came down to Christchurch for a weekend visit. It had been 17 years since her and I shared space under the same roof.
Sitting at the dining room table, she casually told me the story of her step grandson who was now living with her and her husband (one of our perpatrators), as a result of sexually acting out with his two step sisters. This young fulla was only 11 at this time, and already sexually acting out. I was freaked out .. this 11 year old fullas' step father was my eldest nephew, another perpetrator of ours .. The fear was, that this 11 year old fulla had been acting out as a result of having been made victim to sexual abuse by either his step - father (highly probable) or his step Grandfather.
A few weeks went by, and on a Friday afternoon, I found myself driving to the Police Station in central Chirstchurch asking the Police person at the desk whether it was too late in the day to make a complaint about sexual abuse. This woman didn't even bat an eyelid. She instructed me where to go and wait for her .. and she listend and wrote down stuff while I told her the reason I had come .. it was to ensure that my step great nephew (the 11 year old fulla) would be protected by the right sort of people.
I drove home on that Friday afternoon, immediately went to my other nephews room and used his computer to write then print out a letter that I sent to my youngest sister, the eldest sister, one for my brother, and one for myself. In this letter I explained what I had done and why I had done this - I made no apology for my actions, and that I accepted what was consequently my own to deal with. Needless to say it went down like a lead balloon. I accepted that it would. I knew that my brother would flip his lid, I knew that the younger sister would deny ever being sexually assaulted by the older sisters husband .. I knew what to expect ..
So I packed up my room a week later .. and moved in to board with a woman I had met through a sexual abuse course, and her family .. And I lived in a shack / sleep out type place down the back of their section for around 8 months. It was one of the happiest times of my life .. these were the people who originally had who is now my dog, Tamalous.
It was also in this time that I gave myself space to write, and to draw ... the creations of this site were inspired by my last journey with my family in this lifetime .. I've called this group of art Tion, as every pictures name ends with a tion.
As with our first site, I hope again, that I achieve my purpose, and that is to present to you some of the workings of my life.
