Today, my Little Bro Brad would have been 35. Brad is always close to me, but on this day every year, I always feel a little lost but feel his presence with me even more... Just under 5 years ago, Brad decided that this space was not for him so made the ultimate choice to move on...something that I will never fully understand but, over time, have come to accept.
I've wanted to create something for him for a while now and just needed to find the right headspace and "subject", so to speak. There was obviously something in he air over the last week as everything for this to happen, just fell into place!
Brad spent much of his time in Lyttelton and created his own "artworks" on buildings. One of his favourites was the T.E. Lawrence quote:
"My nerves are jaded and gone near dead, so that nothing less than hours of voluntary danger will prick them into life"
Late last week, I did a search on this quote on Uncle Google and a photo came up...a photo of one of Brad's actual "artworks" of this quote. I then endeavoured to get in contact with the photographer...and, after much tapping away on the keyboard, managed to make contact and get permission to use the photo. This photo was taken in Lyttelton in August 2012 by Anton Wartmann. I owe Anton a huge amount of appreciation, gratitude and thanks for allowing me to take his photo and to make it into my own creation...it has meant the world to me to be able to create something around something that Brad originally created himself.
The butterflies in the Wall Art are to represent Brad now flying free...there are eleven butterflies to represent the age I was when Brad was born...I was 11 years old.
Today is Day 3 of Mental Health Awareness Week in New Zealand, the theme for 2022 is "RECONNECT" and today is about reconnecting with a special place. For me today, this is with Brad x