peter drew
What amazes you about the world? The fact it doesn’t fall apart. Take one glance at your newsfeed and you’ll find a million reasons to be worried: climate change, nuclear weapons, inequality and injustice. It sometimes feels hopeless, but that’s only because the true beauty of the world doesn’t translate to social media. The world is held together by everyday acts of kindness. What’s the meaning
of life? To explore, seek out and invent our own meaning. If life’s meaning were the same for all of us, what would be the point of having an imagination?
Is there life after death? Only through the ideas we pass on and the art we create. Our life pours out of us from moment to moment and the art we make captures a small part of that torrent, like a paper cup thrust into a waterfall. If you could change one thing in the world, what would it be? Contraceptives for all! If every woman in the world had the power to decide if and when she became pregnant, a million
other problems would disappear overnight. What does freedom mean to you? Freedom is a gift and a responsibility. A gift because it was paid for by the sacrifices of our ancestors. A responsibility because my freedom shouldn’t infringe upon the freedom of others. If you were gone tomorrow, what would you have left undone? I'm currently writing a proposal for a new book and I have a bunch of posters for release in 2020. I really love my work and I feel I'm
just getting started. What’s an experience you’ve had that’s changed your thinking in some way? I used to think Adelaide was a grim and depressing place to live. Then I lived in Glasgow. I’m just kidding, both cities are great, but there was a time when I couldn’t see the good things about my hometown of Adelaide. After spending a year away, I suddenly realised how great it really was. Can people change? Sure. We can break old patterns, but it’s often painful. The trick is accepting that the pain of change is probably less than the pain of staying the
same. What’s something that should be legalised in Australia? Euthanasia for sufferers of terminal illness. I hate the idea of being trapped in a body that’s racked with pain without any hope of relief. (Sorry to end the interview with such a grim answer. I should have just said marijuana.)