With Neurodiversity Celebration Week underway, Cade Lucas spoke to South Kingsville artist Matt Mak and partner Lauren Kerr about his recent ADHD diagnosis, the link between neurodiversity and creativity and his drive to help other young neurodiverse artists.
Set in a grim, dark time in the future where a stagnant human civilisation is beset by hostile aliens and supernatural creatures, Warhammer 40,000 is the world’s most popular tabletop wargaming franchise.
First released in 1987, Warhammer, unsurprisingly, involves players waging war on one another with miniature models of humans, aliens and fighting vehicles on a tabletop battlefield.
It’s this fictional future dystopia where South Kingsville’s Matt Mak spends most of his spare time, though not as a participant.
“I’ve never been into playing those games,” said Mak of Warhammer 40,000 and similar tabletop games.
Instead, the 46-year-old graphic designer and artist paints the miniature models and figurines that Warhammer players use to battle each other.
“I’ve always just seen it as an outlet to pick up a brush and paint something as detailed and as nice as I wanted to paint it, that’s about as far as it goes for me,” said Mak of his interest in painting the miniature models, some of which are less than three centimetres tall.
As it turns out, that interest has still taken him quite far.
Miniature model art has a following every bit as committed and dedicated as the tabletop games they’re used for and within this artistic community – a niche within a niche if you like – Mak’s paintings of small figurines have become a very big deal.
An Instagram account he started a couple of years to showcase his work – Matties Minis – now has 18,000 followers, while Mak has been recognised at national and global competitions and is regularly asked to judge them too.
“It’s a really good outlet,” said Mak of his hobby and the like-minded community it’s unexpectedly drawn him into.
“It’s really helped encourage me. It’s really made me feel like being into that stuff (miniature model art) is not so taboo. It’s like there are other nerds out there and now I just wear it like a badge, like “yeah, I paint little things.”
Mak also said immersing himself in the fictional world of Warhammer allowed him to escape some of difficulties he faced living in the real one.
“I guess it’s a really good way to kind of treat myself like just emotionally and mentally, especially because, you know, you still face life and things that just kind of get you down.”
In March last year, Mak learnt that the reason for him feeling down in the real world was the same thing that led him towards the imaginary world of Warhammer art: he was diagnosed with ADHD and autism.
The diagnosis came about after visits to a psychologist then a psychiatrist following an extended period of stress, anxiety and mental health issues.
However, according to his long-time partner, Lauren Kerr, the signs were there for much longer.
“We often talked about how Matt struggled with noise, stress, interruptions, and changes in plans – how all of these things made it hard for him to regulate his emotions and feel at peace,” she said.
“He’s carried these feelings for his entire life, and throughout our 13 years together.”
Kerr said prior to his diagnosis, it had been heart-breaking watching her partner struggle with common symptoms related to neurodiversity (a lack of organisation, an inability to focus, forgetfullness, hyper-sensitivity) and the mental health issues that often followed (those with ADHD are far more likely to suffer from depression, anxiety and other mood disorders than those without).
“For most of his life, Matt believed he was the problem. He spent decades masking his true self, trying to fit into workplaces and friendships that didn’t understand his needs.”
She said the difference since his diagnosis had been stark.
“It helped him see that he was never broken, just navigating a world that wasn’t built for him. Now, he surrounds himself with people and environments that truly accept and support him.“
That includes the miniature model painting community where having ADHD, autism and other neurodiverse conditions is not only common, but celebrated.
“The hobby community, the painting side of things, and I think it is rife with neurodivergence,” said Mak.
“I just think the whole, you know, sit down at a table, look through a little magnifying glass there for three hours, paint little things, don’t talk to anyone. That whole thing, it’s like you couldn’t get a more perfect activity for someone (who’s neurodiverse).”
Since his diagnosis Mak has been taking Ritalin and Lexapro, which have helped him improve his focus and productivity.
“I didn’t know what it was like to, it sounds very basic, but just sit down and focus on something for a few hours and just not realise the time.”
But rather than dulling the creativity and quirkiness behind his art, he believes medication has actually enhanced it.
“Where I needed to be creative at work or in hobbies, if the focus wasn’t there, or if the confidence wasn’t there, that just kills the creativity,” said Mak, who often found his struggles working as a graphic designer drained him of the creativity needed for his hobby.
“Now it’s really invigorated that side of me so that once I put the tools down now, I just want to paint.”
Such has been the transformation in Mak, that he and Laura are using Neurodiversity Celebration Week from March 17 to 23 to speak out in an effort to help others, particularly young neurodiverse artists struggling to fit in.
“We live in a constructed world that isn’t tailored to some of us,” said Mak.
Providing support and professional pathways to young neurodiverse creatives will be incredible.”
To view Matt Mak’s Warhammer art, visit: https://www.instagram.com/matties_minis/?hl=en
For more information on Neurodiversity Week, go to: https://www.neurodiversityweek.com/
