Jeffery Finlay, Mouthpainter (Paraplegic)

Jeffery Finlay

Before his accident Jeffery Finlay lived a diverse life in the function of a young man as a traditional dancer and Didgeridoo-player with the members of the Kuku Yalanji group in the Mossman gulch for visitors regularly implementation celebrated.

In 1992 then Jeffery had his accident in which he suffered a heavy cerebral injury which made him from the neck a Tetraplegiker. Jeffery was brought in the Pa hospital in Brisbane in which he was rehabilitated in the time of 12 months. During his rehabilitation he was asked by a therapist, that to try the oral painting.

Jeffery decided to try it and fought like an indigenous warrior for his first line. He developed soon afterwards a big inclination for the oral painting and his abilities found anew. Till present Jeffery has organised two public exhibitions and his pictures are shown at the moment in an art gallery.

It is also Jefferys ambition with which he wants to show the person with handicap that they can still enjoy the life and can do things from which they thought, they would be never again to be done in their situation. Jeffery goes untiringly away many people and without spurring on handicap with his kind. Jeffery, recently said: „once I lived to be a traditional dancer, now the brushstrokes dance by my painting over the paper“.