The war on P: Graphic view of addiction's ravages

Everyone told Stephen Martyn Welch he was wasting his time with a graphic portrait called P.

But the Auckland artist was determined to make his personal statement against the horror of the drug.

"I thought the one way I can show how bad this drug really is is by showing a girl who has been done over.

"You don't know if she's a P addict or not. She's just a girl who's got the stigma of being involved with P."

Welch grew up in South Auckland, where he said the drug was everywhere.

"You could walk down the street and see someone with eyes like saucers and know that person's on P."

He was inspired to paint the portrait two years ago by an 18-year-old girl whose P-addicted father regularly beat her senseless.

But finding a methamphetamine-using model to sit for him proved impossible. Finally, he used three different women to construct his own concept of the ravages of the drug.

"When I did it I had lots of friends and family saying, 'You're not going to sell that.'

"It's not about selling it. It's me saying that P is bad - really bad."

*The 1200mm by 900mm oil on canvas portrait, which has a price tag of $8000, is on display at Jonathan Grant Galleries in Parnell Rd, Auckland.