​Les Griggs - Artist

Les was always finding ways to be an artist, from his early years in childrens homes where he was influenced by Albert Namatjira after seeing a print of Namatjira's work to later in jail he often painted for money and cigarettes. In 1984 he was employed to work on the Northcote Koorie Mural as a part of an early release prison program. 

When he was finally free he devoted himself to his art and developed a style of his own which enabled him to tell the story of his life of institutionalisation. The fine dots were used to outline objects that symbolised his incarceration and issues he faced with drugs and alcohol. They replicated the way tattoos were drawn on his body, many of them being done by himself in jail.