Ahoy all,

Today I thought I would check out some Aussie art and found the incredible Ian Fairweather. Get this… Mr. Fairweather wasn’t just an artist, but an adventuring travel bum too! He was born in Scotland in 1891 and spent his early childhood in British and Swiss schools. He was trained to become an officer in Belfast, just to be caught by the Germans during WWI. He lived in POW camps for 4 years, and to kill the time he drew for POW magazines and learned Japanese.

After the war, he studied art in London, Munich and in 1918, The Hague Academy. Could it be after all those art critiques he just wanted to take off? He travelled to Canada, China, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Australia and the Philippines (where he lost the tip of his right little finger).

War times weren’t over, and during WWII he served with the British army in India from 1941-43. After being discharged he returned to Australia for good, where he read Thor Heyerdahl’s Kon-Tiki in 1952. Inspired, Fairweather concocted a raft and sailed 17 days alone across the Arafura Sea from Darwin to Roti, Indonesia.

New Zealand-German artist Michael Stevenson's The Gift, 2004-05. Fairweather's raft is a potent symbol of creative transmission and exchange.

Starving and sun-burnt upon arrival, the Indonesian authorities deported Fairweather to England where he had to work as a labourer. He returned back to Australia a year later and settled off the Queensland coast, on Bribie Island. He lived the rest of his life seeking solitude and tranquility while painting in a thatched hut. Fairweather suffered from severe arthritis and died in 1974 of a heart attack.

Cheers to Ian Fairweather! What an inspiring artist and adventurer!

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