Have you always been actively involved art?

Not much. I did a little bit of sketching as a kid.

But once I hit high school, I specialised in maths and sciences.

I went straight from high school into uni and did physio. I was always interested in art, but also interested in sciences and just chose to focus on that because it was a more, I suppose, practical career choice.

I probably did physio for 10 years before I went to art school.

Did you do that while working?

I did various combinations; worked part-time and then when I came to Wagga, I took a year off and studied full-time at the TAFE and then I went back to work part-time and then just various combinations again.

Initially, I tried to practice art full-time and then, it was just the challenges of life, but also a combination of both works for me.

I think that’s just the way my brain works. It’s nice to balance one with the other.

So you have been able to combine the two passions into one with Painting with Parkinson’s?

Yes, that’s been great. Since having kids, I’ve not practiced art as much, so this gives me a chance to do it.

It’s been a good way to incorporate my physio skills in terms of knowledge of Parkinson’s and how it affects people, but also sharing the love of art and different artistic techniques that when you start out you can use.

It’s given me some inspiration to go back and try in my own art as well.

I was going to ask whether it had given you some ideas for your art and whether you had also been inspired for your physio role.

I’ve had ideas, but just watching people do art and sharing their artistic process just gets the creative juices flowing.

For yourself, what type of art do you like to do?

I do figurative art, so human figures, life drawing. Again, I suppose it’s that anatomical and physical background.

A lot of my art is about human movement, the figures, the human condition, trying to capture the likeness of form of the human body, but I also like being quite expressive as well.

I’ve had a couple of exhibitions at the Wagga Art Gallery, as well.

How much art have you been able to do with your physio patients in the past?

This is the first time I have actually incorporated by clinical work with art and it has been such a great opportunity that we’ve been able to drive the Painting with Parkinson’s program in Wagga. Merrin (Moran, a senior physiotherapist with Wagga Aged and Extended Care Services) and myself are facilitating it as physios with the patients from the clinical setting, but I was able to incorporate my artistic background into facilitating the workshops.

Has it given you other ideas for what you can do as a physiotherapist?

Not so much as a physio, but as a health practitioner, I’m actually interested in refugees and people from disadvantaged backgrounds. I’m a refugee myself, and I’ve spoken to a couple of people in the community who are refugees and they were quite interested in doing art and I was thinking that as a project later on – I don’t in what capacity – to facilitate something for refugees.

How did you come to be in Wagga?

It was a failed around Australia trip. We discovered Wagga and it was a really nice place, so we came back to check it out again and then I found the art course at TAFE, so that was a good enough reason to move to Wagga – to try the art course.

My partner Grant and I had kids and brought them back to Wagga because it’s a great place to raise kids.

I’ve got two boys and another baby on the way.

Where were you born?

East Timor. I suppose that’s the other thing about why I chose the science field. It’s more academic and a safer career choice.

As a refugee, I really didn’t have much of a luxury to indulge in art, so it was after I became established in professional practice that I had the time and could afford to go to art school.

Did you come to Australia as a child?

Yes, I started my schooling here. I grew up in Melbourne.

I have worked in a lot of different areas. I’ve worked in the Northern Territory and all over NSW, both in Sydney and in the country. I’ve worked in the ACT.

Looking ahead for Painting with Parkinson’s, you’ve got another series of workshops coming up in March and April?

When we planned it with our council grant, we were going to do one in spring and one in autumn.

The autumn one is going to go for six weeks.

Has it been lovely watching people discovering art?

It’s been great, seeing the artwork and watching people change from week to week. Some people came for one week and some came for the whole five weeks and you can just watch the progression of them as artists. It’s been really inspiring.

They’ve been surprised themselves by what they have achieved.