_{Cover Image: artist Andrew Grero in his Bassendean studio. Image Supplied}

When Andrew Grero talks about Parkinson’s, he does not begin with a clinical explanation. He begins with a shoe, a burger, a watch, a car. The Bassendean painter and mural artist, known professionally as aerogrero, has built his first solo exhibition from the small, familiar objects that can suddenly become complicated when the body’s messages no longer arrive as expected.

Signal Lost: Finding my way with Parkinson’s, opening at Inglewood Arts Hub on 9 September and running until 19 September, invites audiences to move through life in the footsteps of someone with young onset Parkinson’s disease. The exhibition is open Wednesday to Saturday, 10am to 3pm, following its opening night celebration.

Diagnosed in his mid-thirties, Grero has used art as both expression and invitation: a way of explaining the fatigue, uncertainty and frustration of the condition, but also of insisting on possibility. The works in Signal Lost are described as bold, expressive and deeply personal, using mixed media, contrasting styles, still life, self-portraiture and immersive staging to create an emotive narrative through the unseen realities of YOPD.

“Despite all the challenges, I feel lucky I can still paint and create art with Parkinson’s and this, in a way, is my superpower for initiating conversations and promoting a greater awareness of what it is like for a young person,” he says.

On his website, Grero describes his work as colourful, bold and free. His influences range from Arthur Boyd and Andy Warhol to basketball, space, travel, portraiture, the built environment, native flora and fauna, and the subtleties of colour in light. That wide field of reference is present in Signal Lost, where pop-cultural immediacy meets the intimate physics of a body negotiating medication, movement and time.

The exhibition’s early works make the “young onset” experience tangible. A favourite pair of Jordans becomes a reminder that getting dressed is no longer straightforward. A burger speaks to the ways food can affect medication. A Swan Draught can points to a changing relationship with alcohol. A watch becomes an image of waiting: the clock counting down to the next dose, or to the moment when the benefits begin to fade.

Other works widen that personal vocabulary. Subaru Sunset reflects the loss of driving and the farewell to a much-loved car. Falling Upwards considers anxiety, confidence and the work of finding oneself again. Medication and Apple with Ivy explores the highs and lows of treatment, while Trapped turns sleepless discomfort into a meditation on the mind’s capacity to endure. The title work, Signal Lost, distils the exhibition’s central image: the disconnect felt when the body and self fall out of sync.

Yet Grero’s practice has never been defined by limitation alone. Born and raised in Perth to Sri Lankan parents, he has been involved in community art from a young age, with work exhibited in Kununurra, Bristol and around Bassendean. His mural projects include works for Ashdale Secondary College, the Australian Defence Force in Karrakatta, Bassendean Bowling Club and a 23-metre mural for West Coast Suspensions in Bassendean.

Signal Lost is supported by MSWA through its Life not Limits Grant in memory of Ros Harman, with mentoring support from DADAA and backing from Inglewood Arts Hub. For Grero, the exhibition is also a thank you: to his wife Erin, their son Jules, family, friends, colleagues and supporters who have helped him continue to be “Andz”.

“It celebrates how we can overcome these hurdles and live a life that is still meaningful, fun and full of adventure,” he says. In that spirit, Signal Lost is not only an exhibition about Parkinson’s. It is a conversation starter, a community invitation and a vivid reminder that when one signal is lost, another form of connection can still be found.

www.aerogrero.com