Wandsworth Arts Fringe Exhibition shines light on the power of art as therapy
Antonia Rolls' exhibition, 'Addicts and Those Who Love Them' shows the power of art as a therapy and how critical community is
Costya Soloviev Somerville died at the age of 29 on the 24th of February 2023 after a 15-year battle with addiction.
His mother Antonia turned to art in her hour of need, picking up a paintbrush to work through her grief.
Her exhibition "Addicts and Those Who Love Them" is a series of portraits featuring addicts, and family and friends of addicts, alongside written accounts of their experiences.
You can see her work at Wandsworth Town Library until the 22nd June.
Within this, she not only found peace but a surprising community of families and addicts also fighting their demons with art. Among them, Sean Martin and the team that saved his life at St John's Therapy Centre in Battersea.
A recovering addict's account
Antonia met Sean when he was five months out of rehab.
While returning a book to the library, Sean’s brother saw Antonia’s exhibition and was moved to tell him he needed to see it.
Antonia beamed recalling their first meeting and how this gentleman brought in his own work to show her.
Antonia said: “I was really taken with the fact that Sean had used creativity to help him through this recovery process.
“Which is not easy for anybody and yet he had done all this intense work.”
She said that after he left, Sean’s mother visited the exhibition, and then his father.
She was overcome with the support from this family, not unlike her own, who had experienced such a tumultuous journey but one with a bright future ahead.
“They’re a very loving family and I think they didn’t quite know what to think.
“They came to see the exhibition to see what he had got himself involved with and I think they were reassured.
“They’re so proud of him.”
Sean was invited to show some of his work at Antonia’s next exhibition at the Wandsworth Arts Fringe in 2024.
When I asked Sean about his family’s experience of his addiction he said he couldn’t even imagine how they felt.
He described being administered to hospital three to four times a week, being scooped up from the gutter by ambulances, and kicked out of pubs so much he resorted to drinking alone.
Sean said: “I was ultimately dissatisfied with who I was and although my family and the friends who stuck around were intent on providing me with the help they thought I needed, only I could give me that help.”
The power of art as a therapy
Creative arts therapist Chloë Hobden describes art therapy as a non-confrontational form of therapy suited to recovering addicts because it provides an indirect way to explore feelings and self-expression.
Hobden explained: “Funding issues are common for all creative arts therapies, they can sometimes be seen as the ‘light approach’ and can struggle to win funding over shorter term more cognitive and results-driven approaches.
“Whilst these work for some it isn’t the right route for others, and having a variety of therapeutic approaches is paramount to a cohesive recovery for many.”
Sean described to me the feeling of knowing when he came out of detox that this type of approach would not be enough for him.
Sure enough, he resorted to returning to drink on what he described as a “seven-day bender” before finally being offered a place in rehab where he could partake in different approaches including art therapy.
It’s interesting to see this mirrored in the family of an addict who has passed on.
Although Antonia has done traditional forms of therapy in the past when dealing with loss, art has ultimately brought her that same sense of exploration and understanding of those feelings.
She described the moment she knew she was helping others suffering the same pain and confusion when a woman visited her first exhibition and started sobbing.
Antonia said: “The woman wept and said 'I didn’t know other people were in the same position, I thought I was the only one, I have a daughter who has this exact same story.
“'She’s so difficult to be with, she dominates my house, and she tells me I’m a terrible mother and that it’s all my fault.
“'She frightens the life out of me, I’m a prisoner in my own home and I don’t know how to deal with her.
“'I thought I was the only one and I see here I’m not.' I knew that I needed to continue this work to be able to signpost the correct facilities for support to people like this.”
Antonia plans to take her next exhibition ‘Beloved’ to the Brighton and Edinburgh Fringe in 2025.
Addicts and Those Who Love Them
By Antonia Rolls featuring Sean Martin
This article is dedicated to Antonia Rolls and her sons Costya and Dimitri. Sadly Dimitri took his own life on Tuesday 2nd of July 2024. Costya and Dimitri have been reunited in light and love.
If you are struggling with any of the topics in this article please reach out to drug addiction helpline Frank on 0300 123 6600. Alternatively, you can talk anonymously to the Samaritans on 116 123.
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