How art exhibition is proving recovery is for everyone

The "Recovery is for Everyone" exhibition has helped to challenge addiction-related stigmas and highlight the positive stories of people in recovery.

Hosted by the Lighthouse Cinema in Wolverhampton, art groups facilitated by the Good Shepherd, SUIT (Service User Involvement Team) and Recovery Near You have exhibited alongside established artists from the city including current students and alumni from Wolverhampton University.

Held to coincide with Recovery Month, the exhibition started on September 16 and is the second one to showcase the work of people in recovery, with the first taking place in September 2019.

Exhibition organiser and co-curator Kate Penman works as a project worker at the Good Shepherd and sport about the benefit of the art groups and what it meant to put on the exhibition.

She said: "The art groups facilitated via these different charities offer a safe space for people to come and talk and share any issues whilst also the opportunity to express themselves creatively.

"For many people who are in recovery or going through different problems in their lives, finding a new interest and an outlet to put their feelings into a picture or painting can be a hugely important part of their journey.

"When they can see their artwork exhibited up on the wall, it is something they themselves have created that didn’t exist before, and there is a worth to it and a sense of achievement.

"We are delighted to be working with the Light House once again, and for them to be offering up this platform where people in recovery can display their work alongside some fantastic established artists."

"It's an absolute delight to see it come together, with a lot of people putting in a lot of hard work, and we all feel this collective pride as we've all been part of it."

Among the exhibitors were Charlotte Webb, who had undergone her own addiction to alcohol through her working life, and who had seen her late father helped by Good Shepherd for his addiction to gambling.

The 39-year-old said the illustrations she had created around drinking and life were a cathartic experience for her and part of her own personal recovery.

She said: "The project I was set was to create some artwork in response to an activism piece, so I was something I felt passionately about advocating and raising awareness of.

"It helps to raise awareness of the everyday person and their drinking as we get told about being careful when out drinking, but we don't hear about people who've gone through life and had difficulties with certain things."

Leanne Hayes helped run the art group for Good Shepherd and produced pieces for the exhibition which worked to educate around mental health, recovery and homelessness, three things the 34-year-old said she had experienced.

She said: "It's been a way to help educate the wider public on how homeless people are feeling or what they have to go through on a regular basis.

"We've all felt like we're outsiders but we're not and we just want to be treated the same as everyone else. I've had addictions to cocaine and alcohol and been homeless and the Good Shepherd helped me all the way.

"It's amazing to be part of this event and the fact that I'm helping to run it has really helped me in my own development along the way."

The exhibition at the Lighthouse Cinema closes on Thursday, September 30 ahead of moving to an exhibition space in the Mander Centre in Wolverhampton.