Newsletter

The whole world was amazed and inspired by the courage and determination of a very special young man, Oscar Pistorius, when he competed at the Summer Olympics in London this year. Oscar has even become known as the Face of the Olympics.

Another inspiring and courageous person is Johannes Swanepoel, a quadriplegic mouth artist, who is working very hard to earn a living despite severe setbacks and disability. Please take the time to read a few lines about him.

Many members of the art community are campaigning for Johannes at present as he is facing so many difficulties and setbacks. 

Kind regards

Anna

Johannes Swanepoel is completely paralyzed from the neck down due to a motor car accident on 17 June 1983.  He worked very hard at his rehabilitation which took about four years. In 1994 he started painting with his mouth. His strongest supporter was his mother who kept on motivating him. At the end of 1994 he was accepted as a student by the Association of Mouth and Foot Painting Artists Worldwide, who granted him a bursary for a first term of three years.

Johannes studied art for five years at Port Elizabeth Technicon under artists like Jenny Ord, Thys Cilliers and Andrew Nhlangwini. At the end of 2001 he moved to Pretoria and served three years at the mission service organization INSERV. He married Elzann� in 2009 and they currently reside in Vrede in the Free State.

Since April 2011 Johannes has been bedridden, but learned to build websites and to be on social networks, which is a great joy in his life. He dedicates a lot of his time to promoting art and art galleries, mostly free of charge.

Johannes Swanepoel is an inspiration to many people and every bit of support and help we can give him, will make a difference in his life. Help could take the form of buying one of his paintings, making a donation or simply sharing this newsletter with people who might want to help him.

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