BEEING SEEN
About the project
Through 2024 I will be working on a new series of paintings, entitled Being Seen. Each artwork will be based on dialogue between myself and someone who has experienced trauma. The project is being support by the team at With-you , a leading peer support organisation.
The paintings will explore how art and storytelling can work as a lever to unlock trauma and aid in post-traumatic growth. I will be building on the The Twisted Rose & Other Lives, 2018 (supported by the Institute of Mental Health and ACE), and Portraits of Isolation in 2020 (supported by With You and the Framework charity and most recently Inside:Out a series of paintings commissioned by with Nottingham University & CVS.
The project
The participants will be a mix of new subjects and some who I painted in earlier projects. I will be exploring how art can give people new insights into difficult subjects, and be cathartic for those whose stories are being told.
The exhibition
The first exhibition will be at the IMH in November and then in Coventry and London in 2025. The paintings will sit alongside specific co-created background narratives and in some cases creative work (written or visual) from the subjects themselves.
This will be supplemented by a beautiful virtual exhibition in February 2025 hosted by ArtCan
Alongside the exhibitions I will be hosting seminars focused on storytelling, art, and recovery for art groups. Please contact me if you are interested.
Funding
Sadly this project was turned down by Arts Council England who felt other projects were more important. Hence I have no funding for the project, exhibition spaces or catalogue. I am selling a series of limited edition prints where all the profits will go toward supporting the project.
For more information about this product please email me at andyfarr.artist@gmail.com
Narrative paintings from earlier projects
