Taking a Breath with new lungs allows rediscovery of life
MANY of Shaun Wake-Mazey's most vibrant works are created without a brush.
Breath, his first exhibition in five years, which has opened at Peregian's Kart Space Gallery, contrasts that style with beautiful charcoals of scenes around his Kin Kin home and beachscapes that capture rare trips to the ocean.
As a body of work, Breath is made more powerful with the knowledge that its insights were born of the artist's battle with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, a lung disease progressively denying him the ability to breathe. One of the pieces, Last Look at God, came immediately after he was told by a specialist in 2009 to go home and write a will. Instead, Mr Wake-Mazey went home angry, put paint to canvas and then went looking for another specialist.
In March this year, Mr Wake-Mazey underwent a double lung transplant thanks to a donor family, a team of remarkable doctors and the wonderful care and attention he received from Prince Charles Hospital at Chermside.
The exhibition continues until December 21.
