Twelve, 2015

Published to coincide with the exhibition Twelve (18 September – 1 November 2015) at Castlefield Gallery.

TWELVE is Melanie Manchot’s major multi channel video installation exploring the intimate stories, rituals, repetitions and ruptures of lives spent in addiction and recovery. Inspired by the visual acuity of renowned contemporary filmmakers, the work connects and collapses individual recollections in which everyday situations, events and activities are rendered dramatic or abstract and infused with tragedy, pathos and humour.

TWELVE was commissioned by curator Mark Prest, founder of Portraits of Recovery and developed by Melanie Manchot working with Action on Addiction, the Ley Community and the Psychosocial Research Unit at the University of Central Lancashire. TWELVE was financially supported by Small Arts Awards from the Wellcome Trust and Arts Council England through the National Lottery. An edited version of TWELVE featured in Group Therapy: Mental Distress in a Digital Age at FACT, 5 March – 17 May 2015.  Twelve+ Manchester was developed with participant support from the Priory Hospital, Altrincham as part of a series of commissions responding to the exhibition tour’s local recovery community contexts.