Last week we published a blog called ‘Homeless not Hopeless’. It details the idea behind an amazing project undertaken by Verity Elsbury, a former patient, to humanise the homeless and change common misconceptions.
Her talent to draw portraits in photorealism style is outstanding. She is looking to begin another drawing project with the help of willing patients admitted for addiction treatment at Broadway Lodge and we’re really excited about it. Through her passionate, creative and thought-provoking work she is reminding society to reconsider their assumptions when quickly judging someone based on appearance alone but also highlighting that there is hope for the future for anybody struggling with addiction.
Verity has outlined the upcoming project below. We look forward to sharing the end results with all our readers and followers.
The Fight/ The Essence of Spirit Part 2 – Addiction and Recovery, by Verity
The Idea:
To take pre and post-recovery photos of people who are about to embark on their journey through recovery, with the purpose to draw them in photorealism style.
The Aim:
To promote recovery and help people understand that the disease of addiction is a hard battle. Many of us have to fight every day. Whilst we may look healthy, the struggle of our recovery continues each and every day.
I hope to create a realisation among the public that the subjects depicted in the post-recovery buy pictures could be a colleague, employee, neighbour etc. and that each and every one of us has a story to tell. It is impossible, solely from appearances, to know the struggles others are facing.
I myself have personally struggled with addiction and have been through two rehab programmes. Thankfully, I am now sober and healthy. I also have numerous friends and acquaintances who have successfully made it out of addiction. We work every day to stay that way. Many of us have been labelled as ‘hopeless’ and ‘doomed’, yet we live healthy lives, hold important jobs, have successfully raised family.
I hope that if others are able to see an image of our appearance prior to recovery and during our lowest moments, they would be amazed by the difference.
Often, those with a friend or relative in the grip of addiction will often believe, based on the unhealthy appearance of their loved ones, there is little to no chance that they will ever survive. It is the common belief that these people are on death’s door and will either soon meet an unfortunate and premature demise or end up in prison. I hope to show through this project, that this is not always the case, that recovery, no matter how bad circumstances are, is possible.
There is always hope!
