Man paralysed at 19 finds vocation as a mouth painter

A mouth painter tells how he was paralysed at 19 – yet found love, became a dad and found his vocation as an artist.

Barry 'Bazza' West, from East Sussex who had "no interest" in art or painting, was left paralysed below the neck after crashing his motorbike into a tree at 60mph.

Since overcoming disability Barry now paints with his mouth and teaches others online. As just one of 33 members of the Mouth and Foot Painting Artists (MFPA), Barry taught himself to paint with no formal training.

Buoyed by the success of his paintings, he reached out to an old friend on Facebook and arranged to meet. After falling in love and starting a family, the rest as they say... is history.

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