At Cannabis & Tech Today, we love to highlight the unique stories of individuals whose lives have been enhanced by cannabis. In this very special submission, autistic artist Matthew de la Tour shares his perspective on overcoming adversity, creating art, and the role of cannabis in helping him to share his creativity with the world.
Matthew de la Tour: I want to share my art and story to inspire others to believe in themselves. Every person is an individual and every individual is a world. I use my art to communicate as a tool to create change in our high-speed, high-tech society. I have a different way of thinking that is not wrong.
I am hypersensitive to unnatural light, noises, and smells which over stimulate me and many others. I have used all these aspects of my life to produce my own style of avant-garde art in the 21st century. My business is a tender plant steadily growing. I have strong roots and no tree lives without them.
Everything starts with a story, a story of creation, the story of an individual who is light in this world of darkness. Everyone in this world has a story. Some worlds are dark at first and then they evolve into brightness and continue to shine. Resistance and conflict are part of everyone’s evolution.
There is no Light without the Dark. I have made my many weaknesses into strengths. Struggle tests and improves us. When you have problems, you engage in thinking where imagination is one with memory. My strength comes from my pain. My beauty is from chaos. Within my blood stirs centuries of fire!
As a speck of dust, I really only know that I am still learning. I am a man who struggles with many social anxieties. I have overcome being raped for years as a child by those you should be able to trust. When you grow up in darkness you must learn to walk in the light. But this is a story of a Victor. This light of mine, I do shine!
Cannabis is a light in our world and should no longer be seen as a villain. My energy has passed through many transformations and filters to make me the man I am today. I have the ability to learn from failure, if you try one method and it fails you must try something else.
The art and tech worlds are judgmental and that is why they help us to grow and evolve. Cannabis is magic because it opens one’s mind and we can receive information from that. We can connect with each other by loving kindness. The mind is a gateway. Love is our guide. Art is a form of communication and the best graphic logos speak volumes.
I am an artist using my two posters to promote cannabis in the technology world. Cannabis has, in the past, helped me slow down my mind. Now, as an adult, I want to share my creations. These are my own articulations and concepts beginning in my mind, my portal to my realm and I create in my own medium the same as my ancestors as they manifest within me.
When I was a child no one ever heard of autism, so I had to adapt quickly. I experiment with experience. I have attempted what is out of the ordinary and have achieved the wonderful impossible. I am a voice for anyone in darkness. Adversity will either destroy you or make you remarkable – it’s your choice!
