Being Seen — Andy Farr

012024

Phoenix — Chik

Andy first painted Chik in 2020, when his recovery from severe COVID was the focus. An experience that left him not only fighting for his life but angry with the circumstances that put him and many others at risk. When COVID and then Long-COVID took him away from his work as a psychiatric nurse and his involvement in rugby, his sense of purpose and identity took a battering: “My life had value because of the job I did…” His journey back was founded on volunteering — becoming an amateur boxing coach, working with Men’s Shed, developing mental health support at his rugby club. Like a Phoenix rising from ashes, Chik embraces a new identity as a “lived experience clinician”. The painting reflects on that journey and the importance of face-to-face interaction: “Talking is what matters.” It shows Chik arisen, supporting his bent-over, sick former self. “I feel I have even more of a commitment, of a depth of calling.”

022024

Who They See — Laura

Laura’s poem ‘Who They See’ anchors this painting. “I don’t know who they see” — six words that lay on a page for weeks, returning again and again. The poem circles between dissociation and determination: pressing her skin against the glass of her own happy moments, looking in from outside; the unkempt hair, the coarse greys, the wrists bound at quarter past three. Yet throughout runs a counting of days — “thirteen thousand, four hundred and fifty-five days and counting” — and a refusal to reduce that life to what others project onto it. “I’m loud, I’m quiet. I’m powerful, I’m weak. I’m trapped, I’m free.”

032024

Claustrophobia — Henry

Henry had a difficult childhood and was homeless in his late teens. He rebuilt his life through a career in IT and a passion for motorbikes — his quiet place, his way to shut everything else out. On the fourth day of a new job in Leeds, a car pulled out of a junction, crushing his left foot and causing catastrophic injuries. He elected to have his lower left leg amputated. The first time he was taken by wheelchair to the hospital café he felt it: a compressed, panicky world — people rushing around above him, reaching over him. “Every time I get back in it, I get the same sense of claustrophobia that I did the first time, and have developed a hatred for it.” Andy’s painting was created to convey that feeling.

042024

Elaine

“Elaine was an extraordinary person… you felt like you could open up to her and tell her anything.” These are the words of Paul, whose partner Elaine McIver was tragically murdered in the 2017 Manchester Arena attack. Initially Andy and Paul talked about Paul’s own recovery from severe injuries. But as their conversations deepened, celebrating Elaine’s life and spirit felt more important. In the difficult days after the attack, joyful memories were too painful to revisit. With time, Paul has found comfort in them: “I truly feel blessed to have those memories which I will always treasure in my heart.” Andy’s painting seeks to capture Elaine’s love of life and her selfless spirit — her way of making other people’s happiness feel like her calling. On seeing the finished piece, Paul said simply: “I can’t describe the impact of seeing it in the room that day.”

052024

Transformational Pathways — Em

How can we safely communicate that we are traumatised when we can’t speak about it? Em has lived with this question all her life. Talking therapies helped but never reached the root; the words wouldn’t come, or couldn’t give full justice to the feelings. She turned to bodywork and movement, now in her fifth year of training as a somatic therapist. Through anatomical study and movement she found patterns that resolved into the ancient Vesica Pisces symbol — which she and Andy explored together. “I was so excited when Andy told me he had built a pattern-making machine to help make the painting. I liked that it was a bit creaky and wobbly, like a human body, forever repeating the same processes in slightly different ways.” Em is choosing not to name her trauma, in solidarity with everyone who can’t speak of theirs. “This painting shows that change can be found even in long-established patterns, and I think it captures something very beautiful about holding onto hope.”

062024

Emergence — Susana

“My journey towards emergence began with small, almost imperceptible steps. It was in the quiet moments of self-reflection, and in the instances of kindness extended by others, that I found slivers of hope. I started to understand that the darkness wasn’t impenetrable, that there were paths leading out of the shadows.” Susana describes her transformation in this vibrant painting: an open posture, surrounded by blooming flowers. It captures her transition from confinement to liberation — unlearning fear and embracing vulnerability. “As I began to confront and process my past, I learned to uncurl from my defensive stance. The more I allowed myself to open up, the more I discovered the strength within me.” Emergence, for her, is not just breaking free from the past but stepping into her own potential. “In this emergence, I have found a new sense of self — resilient, open, and free.”

072024

Tree of Life — Marie

Marie wrote a poem — ‘Me the blossom tree’ — that became the soul of this painting. A tiny seed, loved and cared for, that blossomed and attracted others to its light; then broke in an electrifying storm, became bare and vulnerable, felt like dying. “As you see with the seasons this blossom tree grew strong again — it’s allowed to be bare and vulnerable, to ask for help from the sun and the rain, to show off all its beauty but also show its pain.” The dark rings in the tree represent the period when Marie was controlled, told what to wear, eat, do, and abused — before she got away and started to regrow. Andy’s painting was created after conversations about all the challenges she had faced and overcome, wanting the tree to represent her continued growth and newfound love of nature. “It is depicting my life through art. All the traumas and pain but magical moments in my life too.”

082024

Roots — Clare

Clare’s poem ‘I Heal Out Loud’ opens: “I heal out loud ‘cuz I nearly died in silence.” She has had zero formal therapy for her traumas — always considered too high-risk, too difficult — while screaming inside just to be heard. “This project has allowed me to be gently heard.” She spoke to Andy using metaphor and imagery to articulate what had never been said. “I can’t share my story with you because Pandora’s Box has never been opened in a safe and contained way, but please allow your eye to gaze upon the green leaf that still grows and shines despite the raging raw roots that leak into the tree.” Andy produced his painting from a conversation that allowed Clare to help build a visual picture. “I hope my words along with Andy’s art can give you a sense of the path I walked.”

092024

Shards of Shattered Rainbows — Skyban

“The rainbow initially represented the whole of me. It encapsulates all my parts, identities and alters.” For Skyban the rainbow was whole and in precise order, brightening people’s days, lifting moods — a grounding symbol of hope and progress. But when treatment stopped it left them suspended in the pain of their trauma, recovery incomplete. “The shattered glass over the rainbow conveys my journey’s slow, painful, and frustrating progress.” The anger, the shards painful and in multiple places — just like the multiple parts within. “The fight to get back and to cling to the hope of the recovery that is just within reach, but not within personal control.” When they first worked with Andy, Skyban really didn’t want to be seen or heard. “I felt valid, and I felt validated, and I didn’t have to be seen for that to happen. There was no judgment, just curiosity and total acceptance.”

0102024

Finding Peace — Kim

“There was a time when darkness surrounded me completely. I felt I was the only person going through it. No human could help me but me.” Kim’s story moves through sexual, financial, physical and emotional abuse, loss, mental health sectioning, substance dependency, suicidal ideation — to a turning point. “I needed help and hope. I needed to stop the madness. I let go of drugs, alcohol, self-harm, and the police stations that had become my way of coping.” The lightness within the painting is her safe place: coming out of the darkness and into the light. “I believe in me again. I now know the strength inside me. I am free from overwhelming feelings; I have peace, and mental wellness is my focus now.” Andy’s painting was created after a visit to Fox Covert Cemetery in Warrington with Kim, a place of special significance, and seeks to capture her journey from chaos into calm.

0112024

The Road Back — Simon

In October 2015 Simon was involved in a serious cycling accident on Penny Pot Lane in Harrogate. He broke his neck and back, fractured his right wrist, dislocated his left thumb, and suffered a severe femoral fracture. Physical recovery took months and demanded immense resilience. The trauma of the accident led to anxiety and uncertainty about his future. To address the mental scars he sought EMDR therapy — a method he found profoundly beneficial, helping him regain a sense of control. During their conversations, Simon described a cathartic moment when he entered “a white room with no walls or ceiling”. Andy’s painting conveys both Simon’s physical and mental journey and the key roles that cycling and EMDR played. “My journey illustrates not only the challenges of recovering from physical injuries but also the importance of addressing mental health in the aftermath of trauma. Through determination and the right support, I began to rebuild my life, one pedal stroke at a time.”

Being Seenin Art, Words & Dance

What does it mean
to be truly seen?

Listening. Witnessing. Painting.

Dialogue

Painting

Witness

Eleven testimonies.
Eleven acts of recognition.

"It felt like
being truly heard."

Phoenix — Chik

Who They See — Laura

Claustrophobia — Henry

Elaine

Transformational Pathways — Em

Emergence — Susana

Tree of Life — Marie

Roots — Clare

Shards of Shattered Rainbows — Skyban

Finding Peace — Kim

The Road Back — Simon

In Art, Words & Dance

Transformative Pathways

Let Me Feel & Who They See

More from the afternoon

Four venues. One continuous conversation.

Coventry Cathedral

Institute of Mental Health

Lewisham Arthouse

ArtCan Virtual Gallery

Step inside the virtual gallery

The work has been recognised by clinicians, researchers and journalists.

Related series

Autobiographical

Portraits of Coventry

The Twisted Rose & Other Lives

Being Seenin Art, Words & Dance

What does it meanto be truly seen?

Listening. Witnessing. Painting.

Dialogue

Painting

Witness

Eleven testimonies.Eleven acts of recognition.

"It felt likebeing truly heard."

Phoenix — Chik

Who They See — Laura

Claustrophobia — Henry

Elaine

Transformational Pathways — Em

Emergence — Susana

Tree of Life — Marie

Roots — Clare

Shards of Shattered Rainbows — Skyban

Finding Peace — Kim

The Road Back — Simon

In Art, Words & Dance

Transformative Pathways

Let Me Feel & Who They See

More from the afternoon

Four venues. One continuous conversation.

Coventry Cathedral

Institute of Mental Health

Lewisham Arthouse

ArtCan Virtual Gallery

Step inside the virtual gallery

The work has been recognised by clinicians, researchers and journalists.

Related series

Autobiographical

Portraits of Coventry

The Twisted Rose & Other Lives

What does it mean
to be truly seen?

Eleven testimonies.
Eleven acts of recognition.

"It felt like
being truly heard."