Josef Gether was born in 1961 in Friedauwerk, Austria, he has lived all his life in this tiny hamlet with a wonderful view of the Alps, especially the Vordernberger Mauer. „This place is my solace, my security and my home”. Just a mile from where I live there is a high security centre where refugees are kept in quarantine until they are sent back to their homeland, they have no legal rights to be in Austria. The last thing they see will be a view of the mountains that I love and call home. I often wonder what they mean to them. Suffering, fear and uncertainty perhaps.

The situation in which we find ourselves is relative to the quality of the lives we live, sometimes life is just drab but mostly we can find colour and motion in any situation. I was born at the foot of this mountain in 1961 and spent my childhood and youth in its shadow. I was crippled by an accident in 1979 and have spent my life since that day in a wheelchair. My life has been a constant carrousel of ups and downs, but I have found freedom and expression and creativity since I started to paint. A canvas is like a time machine for me, I can transport myself in fantasy to other places and dimensions and the time just passes by in contemplation.