Dec 11, 2017
On the show today we have a gentleman known by the single name
of Appleton.
Now if you’re not familiar with his work, or who he is,
Appleton is a photographer, a painter, and a street artist who,
like many creative minds, uses his life experiences as motivation
for much of his art.
As the youngest of four brothers, Appleton grew up in Northern
New Jersey, and was raised by his mom, in a single-parent
household. At the age of 6, he suddenly fell into a coma and spent
a number of days in the hospital falling in and out of
consciousness. It was in the hospital that he was handed the
diagnoses of type 1 diabetes. What he uncovers in our conversation,
is that his parents actually lost their daughter (Appleton’s
sister) when she was just 7 years old after she fell into a coma.
Unfortunately, she was an undiagnosed type 1.
Appleton points to the fact that there were no family pictures
taken during those early years, and he believes that this void in
the documentation of his childhood led him to start take pictures
of anything and everything. He explains that this void served as a
catalyst for him to start documenting his life.
In fact, he has saved every vial of insulin and many of the
syringes he has used, since childhood. That’s over 40 years of
vials.
We then dive deeper into the mind of an artist. Appleton talks
about his inspiration, the evolution of his work, and who and what
influences him.
We talk about how his craft informs the way he views the world
around him.
At the tail end of our conversation, Appleton shares his
personal thoughts on the global ecosystem of diabetes. This is a
very direct conversation on how he believes the state of diabetes
has not changed much in the 40 years since he was diagnosed. He is
firm in his belief that, while technology is wonderful and helps
those affected manage diabetes better, he is focused on why a cure
is such an elusive thing. He gets pretty deep in his thoughts of
cure versus maintenance and why, he believes, we’re not seeing that
cure for type 1.