i truly believe that art is not only
something you do and create it is a form
of expression and it can reflect your
soul it can also ultimately reflect who
you are as a person
i believe that there is art in each
single one of us
all artists are beautiful people and we
really can make a difference in the
world
there is nothing in the world that gives
me more pleasure and joy than drawing
and creating something beautiful and
having people enjoy and appreciate it
my name is astro salter and i am an
artist i have been doing art exclusively
for the better part of the last 10 years
i am disabled and i have a condition
known as cerebral palsy or cp
i do my art on my computer which i
operate using a head switch on the back
of my chair which uses a special program
called easy keys this allows me to use
my computer hands-free
the easy keys program enables me to
select a certain tool in the drawing
program that i can use to draw
currently i use the drawing program
called inkscape this is a great vector
drawing program and it is very effective
for me
last resort was the fifth child a very
large family there were it's eight of us
and we
kind of grew up in negril which is a
very kind of country
slightly hippie existence
and his name is astro because i believe
when he was born there was a very bright
star in the sky and was the middle of
the night
the star gradually became more bright
as you were being born
first thing he drew was a map of florida
and he drew that when he came back to
jamaica
after going to high school in florida
some pieces take
a day
some pieces take weeks
longer space would take maybe three
months so it depends on the
sophistication of the piece
the exhibition at the national gallery
um alastair is in
is basically a mixture of his earlier
works that he showed at his first
exhibition and his new works
a lot of those new works you did in this
year right within the last
three months perhaps
astro's newer work
is more challenging
um
and he's always trying new styles he's
always drawing new objects so he's
basically always pushing his ability
but you feel like your work is getting
better and better because you're always
pushing it further and further
you want to talk about mom
you want to say something about mom
our mom passed i say about seven years
ago now but she was really an amazing
woman you know she raised us in a very
unusual way
we always grew up in a very creative
household and we were always encouraged
to express ourselves a lot of people
probably in jamaica don't have the same
opportunity and if they're disabled
there's a lack of understanding but ever
since astra was really young mom pretty
much made sure that he would become as
able to do
whatever he wanted as possible
i love being an artist and i really
enjoy what i do and take a lot of pride
and enthusiasm in imagining and creating
new art all the time
no matter who you are or where you come
from or even if you have a disability
if you have a dream or a vision of
something that you really want to do in
life you must face it and challenge that
goal head on astro psalter
i guess i've been wanting to read that
one for a long time
you