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in recovery have creative minds,’ says John Platt, operations lead at the ANEW recovery community in Hyde, Greater Manchester.‘ Through this whole experience I’ ve seen nothing but happy, smiley faces.’

Over five months, designer Joe Hartley has been making twice weekly visits to ANEW as its very own artist in residence. Through exploratory sessions featuring everything from carpentry to ceramics and even chicken husbandry, Joe and the ANEW community have been having a ball while pushing the boundaries of what creativity means to the limits.

‘ This is exactly why we picked him,’ says John, who sat on the artist selection panel alongside project commissioners Portraits of Recovery( PORe) and Castlefield Gallery.‘ Working with Joe complemented so well what we already offer at ANEW, which

includes intensive group therapy, education and work placements, equine therapy and supported employment. When Mark Prest of PORe approached us about hosting an artist’ s residency, I thought“ we already work quite creatively” so it didn’ t feel like a huge stretch.’

With a professional background in the arts, PORe founder Mark is himself a man in recovery. He launched the organisation in 2011 with the mission of making art and recovery familiar bedfellows( DDN, October 2023, page 10). PORe also works with galleries and museums, advocating for the inclusion of recovery themes in their public programmes and better access for this mostly uncatered for audience.

‘ I’ ve been in rehabs where the only creative activity was colouring by numbers,’ he says.‘ For me, that’ s not art – and it’ s certainly not going to help people redefine or progress their

recovery journeys. Contemporary art, thoughtfully conceived, has a powerful role to play in recovery. And that’ s what this project is about. We wanted to work with a rehab and push their boundaries about what art is and can be, demonstrating the huge potential benefits for clients and also empowering and developing staff and volunteers to lead their own creative health sessions.’

REDEFINING NARRATIVES The project is part of PORe’ s pioneering three-year CHAORDIC programme, delivered in partnership with Castlefield Gallery, the Whitworth and Manchester Art Gallery. It explores the social impact that co-designed and made contemporary visual arts can have in redefining substance use narratives and recovery identities. With exhibition dates agreed at Castlefield Gallery, it was up to Joe and the 60 participants – including clients at every stage of recovery, staff

and volunteers – to co-design the show alongside curators from the gallery and PORe.

For Joe, who co-owns a ceramics studio and runs community gardening sessions, it was an exciting, if somewhat challenging, prospect.‘ I was the only person in the room not in recovery and worried that people might think,“ who does he think he is?” But I was made to feel very welcome,’ he says.

Another concern of Joe’ s proved to be unfounded.‘ I thought people might struggle with the idea that everything would be created collectively,’ he says –‘ so no one could look at a finished piece and say“ I did that”. To get around this, we made teapots in our first session. I asked everyone to pass them around, so one person crafted the main body, another made the handle and a third, the spout. It turned out that working collaboratively was not at all new to the groups, as it’ s at the heart