STORY: BRYNNE TIMEWELL
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PHOTOGRAPHY: RECHELLE ZAMMIT
WHEN KODY BOTHWELL WAS JUST EIGHT YEARS OLD, CLASSMATES MADE FUN OF HIM, BUT IT WAS THE TEACHERS THAT MADE STARK PREDICTIONS OF HIM NEVER AMOUNTING TO ANYTHING.
His vision had deteriorated and he was classified legally blind, and in the teachers’ eyes, that was the end of his story.
“You’re vision impaired, you’re never going to succeed,” Kody said teachers would say to him.
“I used to shrug and say no to everything.”
Fast-forward to now and the 25-year-old artist’s portfolio spans the globe, with works in Thailand, Sri Lanka, United States, the United Kingdom, India and Australia.
He currently has 12 commissions on the go and has recently taken up writing poetry in his spare time.
“Now I give nearly everything a go,” he said.
Kody was diagnosed with neurofibromatosis at six months old, a hereditary condition that runs through his family — his mother has it, along with several other family members.
But he is the only one in his family whose vision was affected.
This saw him shift from a fully sighted upbringing to one where he must rely on the noises around him, recognising people’s voices rather than faces.
“It’s hard to navigate and get around,” he said.
That sentence alone carries the weight of a childhood spent relearning how to move through the world.
Despite that, Kody has built a budding career as a visual artist, one canvas at a time.
But if you asked him what he sees when he looks at the initial canvas, his honest answer would be: almost nothing.
“My nose is basically touching the canvas,” he said.
“But I haven’t quite gotten paint on it yet.”
It’s a small detail that tells you everything about how close, physical and hard-won each of his paintings really is.
And that losing his vision never changed the way he painted, it simply adjusted it — Kody now using a projector and monitor to make out the images that will later translate on to the canvas.
Working with both paintbrushes and pallet knives, the latter has become a signature style in Kody’s pieces, helping him build up the layered texture visible throughout.
It’s a technique he had never tried before he started working with his therapy teacher aid, Greg Beckenham, whom he now paints beside three times a week in the studio at Greg’s house.
“I get help from Greg, there’s a bit of teamwork there,” he said.
In the year they’ve worked together, Greg has watched Kody’s confidence grow, saying seeing him happy and getting commissions is what matters most.
“I’ve noticed a difference when he started with me to now,” Greg said.
“How much he’s getting out of it, how much enjoyment, that’s what it’s all about.”
With subjects ranging widely, from portraits to abstract landscapes, animals are where Kody’s heart lies, particularly marine life.
“Since I was young, I’ve always loved it, I love being hands-on,” he said.
That love for animals can be seen at Monash Park with cow 62, known by the name ‘Moooveability’, as part of Greater Shepparton’s Moooving Art tour, before it trots off to its next location.
In 2022, Kody spent 38 days bringing the piece together, working with designs submitted by Year 2 and 3 students from Banmira Specialist School.
But that isn’t the only cow of his you’ll be able to see, after he was recently asked to paint another.
With free rein over his next design, Kody has big plans, weighing up the ideas of Australian animals or something more personal, a disability cow.
“I’m thinking crutches for the front legs, wheels for the back, glasses, hearing aids and bandages,” he said.
His love for art now though extends beyond painting, finding himself drawn to pottery for the very reasons that echo the rest of his creative life.
“I like it because I don’t have to rely on my vision, I can feel what I’m doing,” he said.
The discrimination Kody faced in school rippled beyond the classroom and into home life, turning him into a quiet, guarded kid.
But that no longer shapes who he is, having run creative workshops for children on International Day for People with Disabilities and for Greater Shepparton City Council’s Activities in the Park.
It marks just another outlet for a growing creative practice that shows no signs of slowing down.
And a shift from the little boy who would say no to everything to an artist now being seen by the world.
“It’s great, that’s what it’s all about, it’s good for him,” Greg said.
Even Kody’s own mother is in awe of what her son has built, assuring his talent isn’t from her.
With a body of work that spans the globe, public artwork that will remain on Shepparton streets for years to come and a growing list of commissions, it is certain that Kody’s story is still very much being written.
And his advice to other visually impaired people that want to create something of their own is simple and comes from experience rather than theory.
“Don’t give up,” he said.
“Continue with passion, because when you put your mind to it, anything is possible.”
It’s advice that could just as easily be aimed back at the teachers who once wrote him off and could not have been more wrong.
To see some of Kody’s work visit KB's Art and Design.