Personal Testimony of Tristan Griffin

Personal Testimony of Tristan Griffin

The testemony of transformation is integral to the understanding of my practice, it is my motivation for creating, and central to my conceptual investigations.

In december 2005 I had neurological failure which resulted in multiple organ failure; liver , pancrease, spleen stopped functioning normally, and I had several minor heart attacks and seizures. I lost mobility due to nerve damage in my right leg and gained a sparadic tremmor in my hands. I was in and out of hospital for the next four years. My marriage broke down resulting in divorce, my wife at the time could not handle the lifestyle change and extreme physical transformation and presure.And I remember passing at one point at hospital. Ive since read many peoples near death experiences, for me, there was nothingness, i knew where I was and I knew that the life I had led up till that point had led me there.

By march 15, 2009 my health had declined sufficiently that the doctors said "theres no easy way to say this, you have three years to live.... You will need to get your affairs sorted out". Then discharged me for the last time. 

This news put everything into a new perspective for me. What is it that I wanted to do with the rest of my life. I left Lismore,  moving to grafton, and spent the next few months learning to walk again by first picking a coin up off the floor, then by walking to a corner store (50 meters away) then I purchased a bike and began to try and ride to the corner store. This was difficult as I also had middle ear damage which gave me constant vertigo (sensation of spinning around). During this time I also established a computer game company, working as a freelance programmer. 

Once I was able to ride a bike to the corner store, I purchased a car. And began driving around australia, financially I was able to work whereever there was an internet connection, usually a day or two at a time, and spent the rest sight seeing, and searching. This took a year and a half. It was on this journey that my lifes purpose was revealed. I took a bible with me, the  one I was given at birth.As my journey was coming to an end, I thought, what was next, what legacy am I leaving behind. I had lost everything, was homeless, living in the back of my car. It wasnt until I was camping on the cliffs of the nullabour plains, the moon was tipping just as the sun rose over the ocean. I took a photo. It just didnt do it justice. I wanted to be able to capture that momemt. To share that with other people.

I ended up rushing back soon after for the birth of my nephew, I visited my parents and needed somewhere to stay. So I drove through Kingscliff and saw a room for rent. Walked in, checked out the room. I was asked if I wanted it,  i said yes, and moved in that same day. The following day I went to the local tafe to see if there was an arts course, which they didnt have, but there was one in a nearby town of Murwillumbah and I could start the next day.

It is here that I ,met my now wife Marija, and a few weeks later we were dating, on the condition that I went to church. I had previously had negative experience with organised religion, after all they are filled with imperfect people. And it is here that I trully gave the remainder of my life to god. 
 Then fast forward a year and we were married, another 9 months and we had out daughter Belle. Now keep in mind  I have always believed in god, tho I had never actively participated in a church or ritual. So i was water baptised. When I rose out of the water world with new perception, I could see differently, the sun had a shimmer to its reflection and time was dislocated, i felt an intense disconnection to the now. It is during this time that I also received the baptism of the holy spirit. 
Without the baptism  of the holy spirit, you can be a christian, but never experience the giftings of the holy spirit, which is most noticably expressed through tongues.  
It was after this baptism that my life trully changed and can only be described as a rollercoaster. My arts practice instantly changed, my work taking on a deeper critical exploration. There is a yearning in the core of my being to express through the arts, the transendental.