Celebrate Recoverist Month In Greater Manchester

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Celebrate Recoverist Month In Greater Manchester

Image: Sober Curiosity, Scott James

Changing the conversation on substance use and recovery

September marks the annual international recovery month. Since 1989, organisations supporting the empowerment and advocacy of lived experience of recovery from addiction have created events highlighting issues relating to addiction recovery. Last year, Manchester took this a step further by hosting the first programme of Recoverist Month activities.

Recoverist = Recovery + Activist

‘Recoverist’ is a portmanteau word blending recovery and activism and it includes those in recovery, their family, friends, and significant others.

Recoverist Month is distinct in that it is the UK’s only arts-based awareness event that places people and communities in recovery from addiction centre stage, using arts activities to share the unique insights of those with lived experience. It aims to establish itself as a nationally significant, yearly flagship arts & cultural event for recovery communities, as a parallel to Black History Month and Pride.

Instigated by Portraits of Recovery (PoRE), it is now in its second year and looks to be an exciting celebration of intersectional voices in recovery. There will be a series of exhibitions, screenings, performances and events at venues around the region, including HOME, The Turnpike Gallery in Wigan, Oldham Library, Manchester Art Gallery, Manchester Museum and the Whitworth. Artists and organisations taking part include Harold Offeh, Scott James, Will Belshah, Fallen Angels Dance Theatre and Venture Arts, an award-winning visual arts organisation which works with learning-disabled and neurodivergent artists.

Painting: Will Belshah, ‘Pride 2023’

Mark Prest, director, of PORe, said: “PORe’s work is about increasing access and opportunity to the transformational power of the arts and culture. Last year’s inaugural Recoverist Month engaged with in-person audiences of 4,175 and online audiences of 87,779. This demonstrates a very real appetite for the work on which we aim to build on this year.

“We only need to look at how the queer, disabled, global communities and women’s art movements have taken back control through their cultural production. We advocate this approach for the recovery community.”

All events are free or pay what you can. Check out the list of events below.

Recoverist Month September 2024 events:

Recoverist Month welcomes back artist Harold Offeh, for the second phase of his project called Let’s Talk About Chemsex. A 12-inch double A-side single called Anticipation = Anxiety and A Warm Hug music will launch at a ‘listening party’ during Manchester Pride (Sunday 25 August 2024 1-3 pm FREE.) The two tracks have been collectively produced by participants of a series of workshops exploring experiences of sex on chems and broader themes of desire, intimacy, consent and respect in the LGBTQ+ community. A gallery takeover of invited queer artists will follow on Sunday 29 September 2024. Both events are at Manchester Art Gallery.

Beyond the Surface is an exhibition that profiles 10 years of Fallen Angels Dance Theatre’s work in the borough of Wigan. Its focal point is the newly commissioned work Samadhi, an immersive digital dance, light and sound installation in collaboration with creative technologist Noel Jones. Playing over multiple screens in a discreet gallery space, the piece aims to bring audiences to the heart of healing journeys experienced by people in recovery. Chester-based Fallen Angels exists to support people in recovery from addiction and those living with a mental health condition to transform their lives through dance, performance and creativity. (Beyond The Surface, The Turnpike Gallery, Leigh, Wednesday 25 September-Saturday 23 November 2024 FREE).

Image: Point of View Photography, ‘We Rise’, Paul and Eve, Fallen Angels Dance Theatre

Also, from Fallen Angels, Transfiguration is a trio of short dance films called I Fall, I Need and We Rise. The trilogy focuses on a series of defining moments in the journey from addiction to recovery. The screenings will be followed by a Q&A with Paul Bayes Kitcher, co-founder/artistic director Fallen Angels, director Dan Thorburn and playwright/actor Eve Steele. leon clowes from Performing Recovery magazine comperes. (Transfiguration, HOME theatre 2, Friday 6 September 2024 6-7.30 pm Pay as you can).

Will Belshah is a neurodivergent queer artist, working predominantly with paint. During a speaker-informed discussion about the intersectionality between neurodiversity, substance use and artistic practice, the audience will be invited to take part in a shared creative response. Invited speakers for Portraits of Recovery + Venture Arts in Dialogue: Spaces Between include Amanda Sutton, director of Venture Arts, Lisa Williams, lecturer in criminology, University of Manchester and Dominic Pillai, curator of social engagement at PORe (Portraits of Recovery + Venture Arts in Dialogue: Spaces Between HOME events space, Saturday 21 September 1-3 pm, age guidance 18+ FREE).

Sober Curiosity is a series of newly commissioned video monologues by Scott James. Taking to the streets of Greater Manchester, the roving filmmaker will stop people from impromptu conversations around sober curiosity as a lifestyle choice. The first stop will be at Manchester Pride then after Trafford, Tameside, Bury and Stockport. New content will be added throughout the month of September available on PORe’s website and social media channels and shared in collaboration with Greater Manchester’s only alcohol-free promoter Love From.

IZZAT: South Asian Women & Substance Use is an invited speaker presentation and discussion exploring the unique barriers South Asian women face in accessing support for substance use. Speaking will be Dr Sarah Fox from the Substance Use and Associated Behaviors research group (SUAB) at Manchester Metropolitan University, whose research resulted in the publication of the book Alcohol, Izzat and Me, recovery advocate Aunee Bhogaita AKA Brown Girl in a Bottle, who has lived experience of sexual violence and substance use and Kim Kaur and Poonum Chauhan of SAFIR* (South Asian Females in Recovery). It will be followed by a tour of the Museum’s multilingual South Asian Gallery by lead curator Nusrat Ahmed. (IZZAT: South Asian Women & Substance Use Manchester Museum Kanaris lecture room, Wednesday 11 September 2024 6-8 pm FREE).

Image: The African objects collection at The Manchester Museum

Led by Dr Njabulo Chipangura, curator of living cultures at Manchester Museum, African Objects: Psychoactives and Spirituality offers a rare chance to handle cultural heritage objects that are used for spiritual purposes. Ordinarily confined to the museum basement, the historical items will be explored through the lens of addiction recovery. (African Objects: Psychoactives and Spirituality Manchester Museum research studio, Saturday 14 September 2024 2-4 pm FREE).

The Recoverist Curators: Cabinet of Curiosities presents a back catalogue of work by Portraits of Recovery since 2011, including ephemera, poetry and the Recoverist Manifesto. In conversation with work from the Whitworth Art Gallery’s collections, both speak to substance use and recovery. Content has been selected by the Recoverist Curators, a group of people in recovery from substance use. Delving into the Whitworth’s collection, the group will re-interpret selected artworks through a Recoverist lens, helping to challenge societal stigma by rewriting the narrative. The developmental start of a partnership led by PORewith the Whitworth will see the Recoverist Curators develop an exhibition and conference in 2025 (Recoverist Curators: Cabinet of Curiosities Whitworth Art Gallery, from Sunday 1 September 2024 FREE).

The Political History of Smack and Crack(reading) chronicles the heroin epidemic of the Thatcher era through the lens of two Manchester users, who are also lovers. Inspired by playwright Ed Edwards’ own experiences in jail and rehab, the story follows the lives of Mandy and Neil, from the Moss Side riots of 1981 to the present day. Winner of Summerhall’s Lustrum award in 2018 and finalist in Theatre503’s playwriting award in 2017. NB this is a rehearsed reading by two professional actors with a post-performance Q&A. (The Political History of Smack and Crack Oldham Library, Wednesday 18 September 2024 6-7.30 pm Pay as You Can).