The Recovery Project

The Recovery Project

At the moment we are running a project on the theme of ‘Recovery’ in relation to mental health. This is part of the well-being aspect of what ArtiPeeps does, which is always there quietly bubbling underneath the surface. At the moment 3 artist, 3 writers and 1 musician are all collaborating together to create one whole piece centred around this theme. Here are some definitions:

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“Recovery is being able to live a meaningful and satisfying life, as defined by each person, in the presence or absence of symptoms. It is about having control over and input into your own life. Each individual’s recovery, like his or her experience of the mental health problems or illness, is a unique and deeply personal process.” Scottish Recovery Network 2009

“Recovery is not about ‘getting rid of problems’. It is about seeing people beyond their problems – their abilities, possibilities, interests, and dreams and recovering the social roles and relationships that give life value and meaning”Julie Repper and Rachel Perkins, 2002

Each artist has been paired with a poet and is working on one specific theme of the journey towards recovery: despair, muddling through and recovery (hope). Meanwhile  an audio visual artist has been composing some sounds to go with the sections. The piece will exist in 3 separate sections or will be able to be viewed as a whole. Our project will also be shown to the charity SANE‘s community and we’re hoping it will reflect a journey that is common to many (at least in terms of depression). I am also going to be posting regular update blogs on SANE’s site too. I’ll put the links here as well once they are up. Our aim is to have finished the project by the end of May and we will be posting it out on ArtiPeeps and to the SANE community simultaneously.

 The creatives involved in this project are as follows:

Artists: Ray Bentley, Captain Sidcup and Hugo Smith and Poets Carol Robson, Becca Smith and John Mansell &  Audio visual artist Shaun Blezard