Click photo to enlarge
GARTH Jankovic, of Townsville, has moved on from predominantly secular graffiti art to religiously-themed murals.
“I want young people to look at my work and call it ‘mad’ but also to think it’s ‘deep’,” 39-year-old Garth said.
Lately, he’s been led deeper into faith by a serious infection in his sinuses.
“The infection has travelled and eroded into the bone of my skull in other spots,” he said.
“To be honest the faith is getting me through, especially the last few days.
“It’s amazing how the Lord can be your shepherd.”
One of his latest works on Mary the Mother of God is painted on the wall outside Townsville Recovery Services, a Salvation Army rehabilitation clinic in Walker Street.
Garth’s 15-year-old daughter Zara was the model for the face of Mary.
“The idea of the painting was to give the people at the clinic a bit of hope and inspiration,” he said.
“Some of them tell me they go and pray by the painting and it brings them peace.”
Garth, a member of the Holy Family Parish, has been painting around North Queensland for about 20 years.
He said he had become interested in religious art after visiting a cousin painting icons in a monastery at Decani on the Serbian-Kosova border.
Garth also did stints of painting in South Africa and in Belgrade.
His goal is to paint icon-style murals around Australia and the world.
“Using my style, I can maybe engage young people as a way of spreading the message about the Lord,” he said.
