Mark | Wellington

“My name’s Mark. I’m from Wellington. I’m 62 years old. I’ve just come up to look after my sick mum.

I’ve got a lot of health issues. I’m bipolar. I suffer from auditory hallucinations. I have flashbacks. I‘ve got diabetes, I’ve got emphysema. Basically, I’ve been feral for the last seven and a half years. I walked from one end of the North Island to the other. If it’s cold during the night, basically I’ll slit an animal’s throat and crawl inside it. 

Well I’m an artist, so I’d like to be working in libraries teaching young people how to draw and paint, and I also sort of feel very passionately about putting in First Aid stations into pretty much every major city in the country, Māori medicine and traditional medicine. 

Basically, I was born in Wellington. My parents came from England in 1952. At the age of 10, I joined the army. My scoutmaster was an ex-sergeant major from the English Airborne Division of the SAS. In 1977 I was with the Royal Engineer’s and following that I worked part-time on peace-keeping missions around the world. I never did 48-day rotations. Basically, it was sort of a job and finish, three days at the max. I also had a very illustrious career as a ladies hairdresser. I worked in Asia. I’ve worked in Hollywood, and I enjoy making furniture or doing anything with my hands, and my spiritual beliefs basically lie with the Theravada Buddhist Monks, which are Thai Forest monks. I spent work time working with heroin addicts.

Basically my grandmother did lingerie and fashion illustration for 30 years, in England. I went to the Slade College of Fine Arts. I was personally tutored by Doreen Blumhardt, one of New Zealand foremost artists and I think the people suffering with mental illness, it’s just a very cathartic way of expressing themselves, either through painting or through writing. And if they’re able to actually paint the demons that they have to live with every day I think it’s a wonderful form of therapy.”