Australian street artist Anthony Lister—whose meteoric career was snapshotted in the 2018 documentary “Have You Seen The Listers?”—was found not guilty of multiple sexual assaults after a lengthy trial process this past November.
Unlike most accused artists, including the similarly-accused Zak Smith—who successfully completed his fifth defamation case against accusers as of this fall—Anthony Lister was actually arrested and thus faced criminal, not just civil, court.
We caught up with Lister a few weeks after the ordeal:
Q: So, my understanding is that you’ve been in and out of jail awaiting trial on and off for five years?
A: That is correct. The whole ordeal has been a total nightmare. I used to be so trusting and naive. I thought that surely once the police had heard my version of each of the events and seen the factual evidence (of which I provided) that logic would prevail and all the rubbish talk about me being some abusive and violent monster would be proven to be absolutely ridiculous. I was wrong.
—
Q: And you were found not guilty on all counts—do you get some kind of compensation for that?
A: That is correct. I was found not guilty on all counts in the district court of New South Wales, Australia. Compensation is a tricky subject to address. To put a price on what I’ve gone through over these past six years is kind of an offensive proposition. Only because to think anybody would trade my experience for a price is simply outrageous. There is no amount of money in the whole world that anybody could pay me to go through it all again. I just wouldn’t do it, not even for a billion dollars…The legal case cost me everything, it exhausted my savings, forced me to selling my family home and disabled my ability to earn a living. Taking anybody to court for any reason is an expensive experience…especially if it is a lawyer or law firm that you are taking to court. So basically the short answer to this question is; I’m not sure? From what I have heard, it can be very difficult to secure any kind of compensation in circumstances like mine.
—
Q: If you look at the newsletter sent out to various outlets and your YouTube channel, there’s not much mention of the legal battles you’ve been in, was it tempting to make the connection between the work and what you were going through more explicit?
A: Absolutely. From the very beginning back in March 2020 I wanted to publicly proclaim my innocence from all of my accounts on every platform. There were so many times that I had to “bite my tongue” so to speak. After the jury found me not guilty in the last trial I was completely over it. To advertise the fact that I am not a violent person seemed somewhat counterproductive. To even suggest such a thing is to introduce the concept and it’s simply not who I am, so I figure why promote it at all. The whole ordeal has stolen so much of my life and destroyed so many of my friendships and those of my family and friends already.
—
Q: Did you get torn down a lot on social media during this?
A: Oh my Lord yes. I had people from all over the world writing to me telling me how much of an absolute piece of crap I was, that I was a monster and that I should kill myself. This went on for years. I was constantly being harassed and bullied online both publicly and in private messages. The content of some of the attacks upon me were so disgusting and brutal that I began to keep a record of them. I currently have 4 x folders on my phone titled “Haters” with over 2,000 images in each. The images are of screenshots which range from messages sent to me from strangers calling me bad names, to death treats, to online campaigns encouraging fans of my work to stop following me and publicly shaming others for doing so.
—
Q: During the process you and galleries representing you—did they try to limit the kind of moves you were trying to make in order to avoid the controversy getting worse, or did they try to get you out there as much as possible to suggest your career was still alive, or something in-between?
A: In 2020 i was pretty popular in the art world. It would be accurate to say that I was at the height of my career. I used to travel so much that I had not lived in a single city for longer than 3 months in over 20 years. I was a very busy and very internationally successful professional artist. I used to have a manager, a fiancé, a cat, I used to own a home, run a studio, have interns, own a car, have a license, I used to pay for all of my children’s schooling and holidays.
Nowadays all of that is gone. Hopefully things will pick back up.
If at this moment I was earning any money from selling artwork with even one of the numerous galleries that I have worked with throughout the world for over the past 25 years then I would have some hesitation in stating this sad fact; I was unfortunately left to fend for myself. My moves were limited because I had very little to no support.
Before I had been put on trial and the official ‘not guilty’ verdict could be determined by a jury in a court of law, it was far too risky to be seen supporting someone who had been charged with anything even remotely close to the disgusting crimes I was accused of.
It wasn’t a case of my galleries and collectors not believing me, it was more a case of – the whole situation just took too long. The police made everything so much more difficult than it needed to be. The prosecution stalled at every opportunity.
The scam lawyers I was using extorted me, ignored me, fooled me, lied to me and betrayed me. I had absolutely no experience at all in serious legal matters like these. I was innocent of the charges and completely naive of how much danger I was actually in.
From the moment of my arrest the blood was in the water and the sharks began to gather. I used to be rich and famous, it was basically a feeding frenzy payday for all of the greedy, sadistic and jealous assholes I had employed to assist me prove my innocence. From the fraudulent accountant who’d been scamming me for a decade to the lawyers and even to people I considered close friends, each person played a specific roll in the plan to destroy my reputation, influence and career.
—
Q: You say in an interview that you “had faith in the justice system”–yet it took so long for you to get to trial and you had to live under that cloud for so long that it must’ve seemed like that was itself a punishment. How or why did you maintain that faith?
A: I had no choice. I needed to believe in something or I would have nothing to live for.
If I were guilty of the crimes I was charged for I would have been found guilty and would have been sentenced to serve no less than 20 years in a maximum security prison. From the times that i have spent in maximum security prisons (which is far too much time for a man of my nature) I am almost certain that (given the particulars of my situation) I would choose a short rope with a long drop any day over having to try and live in prison in Australia.
I have always believed that no matter what; ‘the truth would out’. The truth always finds its way to the surface one way or another. I maintained my faith because I only spoke the truth.
Image: Courtesy Anthony Lister