Previous page: Samadhi by Fallen Angels. Above left: Eve Steele in The Political History of Smack and Crack. Above: Participants co-produced teapots by passing them round and each making a different element. Far left: Photography was one of the artforms explored by the ANEW community. Left: One of the Recoverist chickens.
‘ I hope visitors find humour. Our sessions were full of laughter. It’ s not about laying bare people’ s pain.’
JOE HARTLEY
of their recovery process. It was really nice to see.’
The workshops – which ran from February to this month – have the potential to revolutionise how creativity is embedded into ANEW’ s recovery programmes, and were also transformative for Joe.‘ I’ ve never felt so fully absorbed and present,’ he says.‘ Because I knew what everyone at ANEW was going through, it would have felt rude not to be 100 per cent present at all times.’
IMMEDIATE IMPACT Katherine Light has worked as a caretaker at ANEW for more than two years, after completing their 22-week programme herself. She joined many of Joe’ s wide-ranging sessions, including ceramics and photo graphy, and says their impact was immediate.‘ Joe earned everyone’ s respect simply by being himself,’ she says.‘ He’ s made a massive impact on clients, staff and the wider ANEW community. He might have come in to“ do art” but what he’ s really shown us is freedom to be yourself, express emotions and accept things as they are. I hope to use some of this when I run my own sessions.’
John, who’ s worked at ANEW since it was founded in 2015, particularly likes the exhibition title, ANEW Way to Peel an Orange.‘ A client said they could
peel an orange inside their pocket,’ he says,‘ and it felt like a great metaphor for recovery. At rehab we would say“ there’ s a better way than peeling it in your pocket” – get it out, don’ t keep secrets, there’ s no need to be embarrassed, peel it in front of the group. So the title is about trying out doing things more openly.’
Another metaphor that resonated for John, whose own recovery journey began at age 50, is that of the‘ recoverist chicken’. Recoverist is a portmanteau word blending recovery and activism, and when Joe brought groups to his allotment to help care for his chickens, one laid eggs – the chicks then grew under the group’ s watchful eyes.‘ They’ re coming to live with us at ANEW,’ says John.‘ We’ ve named them the recoverist chickens, because they represent new life.’
EXHIBITING THE PROCESS As Joe puts it,‘ the outcome is exhibiting the process’, which means the exhibition will tell the story of the creative journey everyone has been on. Adorning the walls at Castlefield Gallery will be black and white photographs taken by the groups, and a floor-toceiling spray-painted mural, influenced by Victorian botanical illustrations. Handmade tables in the centre of the gallery space will display some of the teapots, while a chicken coop will share the feathery fun and freedom of the recoverist chickens via livestream. Outside will be a new garden, created with the ANEW clients, while workshops will run upstairs.
‘ I hope visitors find humour,’ says Joe.‘ Our sessions were full of laughter. It’ s not about laying bare people’ s pain. Recovery is not for the faint hearted, but I hope this is an accessible way in. You don’ t have to know anything about art to get something from this exhibition.’
For Joe, who lost his younger brother to substance use four years ago, the project holds huge personal significance.‘ My brother never reached recovery, so I haven’ t seen this side before – the human potential for enormous personal growth and transformation. It’ s been a highly emotional, but positive experience, to see that struggles with substance use don’ t always end the same way.’
Sara Teiger is a freelance PR and writer
ANEW Way to Peel an Orange is part of PORe’ s September 2025 Recoverist Month programme, placing lived experience of recovery at the heart of arts programming. It is a Portraits of Recovery and Castlefield Gallery commission, developed with ANEW, funded by Brian Mercer Trust and The Howarth Trust and supported by Arts Council England, GMCA and Manchester City Council.
The exhibition runs from 3 August to 19 October 2025 at Castlefield Gallery, 2 Hewitt St, Manchester M15 4GB. Entry is free.
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