CHAORDIC: New Radical Art Commissions Disrupting Narratives on Substance Use and Recovery

Posted on 27 May 2025

CHAORDIC (managed chaos)

Led by Portraits of Recovery, with partners the Whitworth, Castlefield Gallery and Manchester Art Gallery.

A pioneering 3-year commissioning programme CHAORDIC, initiated by Portraits of Recovery (Manchester, UK), explores the social impact that collaborative contemporary visual arts can play on redefining substance use narratives and recovery identities.

Rooted in the concept of ‘RECOVERISM’ – a dynamic social art movement conceived by Portraits of Recovery – CHAORDIC champions cultural visibility, citizenship, and transformative programming that reflects the needs of Greater Manchester’s recovery communities. Through creative journeying, CHAORDIC empowers individuals to reimagine and re-shape their world, to become ‘Recoverists’ (Recoverist = Recovery + Activist), and drive lasting social change.

Groundbreaking CHAORDIC exhibitions launching July and August 2025

RECOVERIST CURATORS

An exhibition curated by people in recovery from substance use, which re-narrates artworks from the Whitworth collection through a Recoverist Lens

The Whitworth | Friday 25 July – June 2026

Driven by lived experience of substance use and recovery, the Recoverist Curators collaboration is an activist based process, developing inclusive ways for working with people and communities in recovery. The Recoverist Curators exhibition has led to the development of new knowledge, and increased cultural confidence for successful creative Recoverist engagement.

Recovery is often misunderstood. Recovery is not finite; it is a social process, a journey. It is cultural, contemporary and in the moment. Through the lens of recovery the curators have researched and reinterpreted the Whitworth’s collection. By curating this exhibition of artworks and engaging the public, the Recoverist Curators share their inspirational stories of hope, fear, desires and dreams.

ANEW Way to Peel an Orange

A co-created exhibition of new work developed by Joe Hartley and the ANEW recovery community

Castlefield Gallery | Sunday 3 August – Sunday 19 October 2025

Selected by ANEW as their artist in residence, celebrated designer Joe Hartley and the ANEW recovery community present ANEW Way to Peel an Orange.

Over the course of Hartley’s residency, he and ANEW have immersed themselves in one another’s spaces and practices. The project has brought together ANEW’s experienced and creative approach to recovery and Hartley’s diverse approach to making, with the talents possessed by members of the ANEW community. Saturated with a generosity of spirit, honesty, and care, their time together has fostered a deep relationship, feeding a meaningful process of creatively working together to craft new contemporary artworks that challenge thinking around substance use and what it means to be in recovery.

Rooted in collaboration and creative exchange, the residency has been an evolving journey of making, reflecting, and connecting through ceramic, photographic, growing, and other outdoor activities, including equine-assisted therapy.

Let’s Talk about Chemsex, led by Harold Offeh

CHAORDIC 2023-24

Commissioned by Portraits of Recovery, with partners Manchester Art Gallery and Brighter Sound

Let’s Talk about Chemsex was a year-long project throughout 2023-24. Led by artist Harold Offeh, the project aimed to explore the queer communities’ broad range of experiences of sex on Chems. Harnessing the power of the legendary Salt N Pepa track Let’s Talk About Sex (1991), at the height of the AIDS crisis, the track aimed to de-stigmatise the discussion of sex and desire in popular culture.

Using workshops, talks, and performance, Offeh’s and his collaborators explored consent, intimacy, and desire, visually mapping and surveying a diverse range of experiences amongst people based in Manchester. It culminated in a takeover at Manchester Art Gallery with a day of performance by international artists and a co-produced 12-inch double A-side single limited-edition vinyl record.

CHAORDIC National Symposium

Thursday 25 September 2025

Portraits of Recovery & the Whitworth, followed by a closing event at Castlefield Gallery

A landmark, one-day sharing event, with key insights examining the transformative power and pivotal role of the arts in driving social and cultural change on substance use recovery. Further details to be announced. A Recoverist Month Sept 2025 event with funding from the Baring Foundation.

RECOVERIST CURATORS and ANEW Way to Peel an Orange are also presented as part of Recoverist Month, Sept 2025 – placing lived experience at the heart of a month-long arts programme.

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Press release - CHAORDIC (managed chaos)

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Images

Banner:

Teapots, ANEW Way to Peel an Orange, 2025. Image courtesy of Joe Hartley

From top to bottom:

Recoverist Curators workshop at The Whitworth, Recoverist Curators, 2025, photographed by Andy Hardman
Equine, ANEW Way to Peel an Orange, 2025. Image courtesy of Joe Hartley