Alex Wodak, physician and health and social policy campaigner, trained at St Vincent's Hospital, Melbourne, and worked as a medical registrar in several London hospitals. In 1982 he became Director of the Alcohol and Drug Service at St Vincent's Hospital, Darlinghurst. He helped establish Australia's first needle syringe program in 1986, and instigated Australia's first medically-supervised injecting room, seeing both initiatives legalised some years later. President of the Australian Drug Law Reform Foundation, and the President of the International Harm Reduction Association from 1996 to 2004, he has been a member of a number of state and national committees including the National Expert Advisory Committee on Alcohol. Artist Nick Mourtzakis met Alex Wodak through his brother, neurologist Jack Wodak, and, struck by Alex's intensity, sketched him at sittings in his studio, developing the drawings in various ways on his own. This portrait is one of several he made between 2003 and 2005 exploring the 'topography' of Wodak's face.
Gift of Dr Jack Wodak 2006. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.
© Nick Mourtzakis
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