BEEING SEEN
About the project
Being Seen is a new series of paintings created in 2024. Each painting is based on one-to-one dialogues with people who have experienced various forms of trauma, including the Manchester Arena bombing, serious illness, road accidents, and childhood abuse. The participants have been a mix of new subjects and some who I painted in earlier projects.
The title reflects both the visual medium and the process of attunement that led to the creation of each work. This project wouldn’t have been possible without my two partner organizations:
- With-You Consultancy, an organisation specialising in peer support and peer-based approaches. My association with stretches back over five years to The Twisted Rose & Other Lives exhibition project.
- DayOne Trauma Support help anyone affected by major physical trauma rebuild their life. From day one, for as long as it takes
The paintings explore how art and storytelling can work as a lever to unlock trauma and aid in post-traumatic growth and build 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 exhibition
The first exhibition will be at the IMH in November and then in Coventry and London in 2025. The paintings will sit alongside co-created background narratives.
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
