Hidden Tales

Hidden Tales, Digital Arts Trail, Rochdale, Tuesday 3 – Saturday 28 October

Breath taking tales of lives spent finding paths through adversity and surviving against expectations, featured in the inspiring, innovative digital arts project, Hidden Tales, include a professional horticulturalist who learned his trade through illegal marijuana cultivation and a nun whose encounters with tragedy only cemented her faith and desire to support the vulnerable.

Accessible via smart phone via codes found in public spaces, journeys into remarkable, real-life stories of addiction, mental illness, hope and resilience feature in Hidden Tales, a digital arts trail set in Rochdale, between Tuesday 3 – Saturday 28 October 2017.

A partnership between CAN (Community Arts North West) and Petrus a charity in Rochdale working with people who are homeless or at risk, the 18-month project determinedly tells stories of perceived human weakness and undeniable, often unlikely strength with unique wit, dark humour and honesty.

A poem, a portrait and a QR code on a large-format print becomes a door into other people’s worlds, recognising their resilience against addiction, mental illness, personal tragedy, homelessness and isolation.

Purposely positioned in the town the stories are told, siting audiences alongside the subjects, the specially commissioned artworks are to be hosted in a range of public locations, to either be found by accident or as part of a published trail. The trail starts at Touchstones, Rochdale’s cultural centre, where visitors can pick up a map and follow the trail to find the rest of the artworks throughout the town centre, including the historic Town Hall, the Wheatsheaf Shopping Centre and the Pioneers Museum.

Petrus service users and volunteers with stories to tell spent time with CAN’s creative team, including award-winning filmmaker Mat Johns, poet Martin Stannage and CAN Creative Producer, Sara Domville and each given the opportunity to tell their story, their way. The participants include:

Sara Domville, CAN Creative Producer, said: “Our partnership with Petrus is a long-standing one, so we have got to know many of the volunteers and people seeking their support very well, seeing many glimpses of humanity’s finest attributes – faith, strength, kindness, honesty - that stop you in your tracks.

"It was so important that ‘Hidden Tales’, in offering a platform for these stories to be told, did so on those terms, finding the best in people through challenging times.

"Placing the work outside a gallery space, making the videos available digitally, on-site in Rochdale and via mobile phone means that the sense of reality becomes intentionally acute.”

Phil Foster, Deputy Coordinator at Petrus Community, said: “We are delighted to be taking part in the Hidden Tales project.

"These stories are touching and honest portrayals of people overcoming challenges and show the importance of understanding and concern within our society.

"We have worked closely with CAN to help give our service users and volunteers a platform to tell the world their stories and I hope that the people of Rochdale enjoy following the trail.”

Hidden Tales is supported by Arts Council England and The Granada Foundation.