The first thing that struck me about the NSPCC Therapeutic Services was that they gave abused children an opportunity to heal emotional wounds that most adults would find unbearable. They do this at a time when the child is still responsive. Before they have become completely closed down. I feel it is essential to give these children help as early as possible to give them the best possible chance to move on. All too often we as a society can spend our time and energy demonising and hating the abusers when the children need to experience safe love and care from adults.
The therapists use a variety of methods such as individual therapy, play therapy and group work. Art is often used and can help unlock complex feelings and begin the healing process. These teams help more than 2000 children and families to overcome the effects of abuse each year. However there are unfortunately still many children desperately in need of support.
I am delighted to be able to help through donating a piece to the NSPCC art auction and am extremely grateful to Damien Hirst, Tracey Emin, Grayson Perry and Antony Gormley for their support and kind donations (I know how many such requests you receive each year so thank you).
I have donated a large "nature painting" so called not because it is a painting of nature so much as a painting by nature. The same forces of temperature, gravity, chemical attraction and repulsion that create our universe have been left to their own devices to create something of beauty. I had very little to do with its composition and yet paradoxically they couldn't exist without my interaction with the world.
Throughout my own creative practice I have sought to explore the interconnectedness of the world and its inhabitants. I believe instead of bemoaning the lack of care in a cold, secular universe we should accept the challenge of becoming what we would like the outside world to be (then we know there is at least an infinitesimal amount of compassion within it). Helping these children to heal does not only assist their recovery but aids our society as a whole.