{"id":1931,"date":"2025-03-25T17:34:15","date_gmt":"2025-03-26T00:34:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/chasi\/?p=1931"},"modified":"2025-04-09T12:44:50","modified_gmt":"2025-04-09T19:44:50","slug":"ufv-students-evocative-art-conveys-lived-experience-of-addiction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/chasi\/2025\/03\/25\/ufv-students-evocative-art-conveys-lived-experience-of-addiction\/","title":{"rendered":"UFV student\u2019s evocative art conveys lived experience of addiction"},"content":{"rendered":"

CHASI had the privilege of speaking with UFV student Adam Nelson about his powerful art installation, which is currently on display at UFV. His work touched our team and provides a window into why work supporting people with addictions is so critically needed. <\/em><\/p>\n

The current exhibition at the S\u2019eliyemetaxwtexw Gallery might catch your eyes, or ears, as you walk past the open doors to B136. The exhibition, titled Land\/Body Performance Archive<\/em>, brings together creations from a selection of Canadian Artists including UFV students, faculty, and alumni. Nature sounds from one installation are audible from the hall outside, and flowing sheets with a projection of shadows on pavement grab the eyes of passers-by. But when you enter the gallery space, it\u2019s hard to avoid having your focus drawn to a different sight: a body bag, surrounded by candles.<\/p>\n

This is \u201cNameless Faceless\u201d an installation from the mind of UFV student Adam Nelson. The body bag has a white theatre mask covering the \u201cface\u201d of the body, and electric tea candles surround it like a memorial. Beside, a small plinth holds drug paraphernalia, hinting at what might have occurred. On the wall behind, photos document a performance on a dark street in downtown Chilliwack, where the shock of a body bag is even more striking.<\/p>\n

\"Photo<\/p>\n

During performances, Adam himself is in the body bag, providing a devastating feeling of loss, even for viewers who understand that it\u2019s an art piece. For the ongoing gallery show, the body bag is stuffed with paper, but the effect is not lost.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to shock people,\u201d Adam explained. \u201cI don\u2019t think anti-drug messaging goes far enough.\u201d<\/p>\n

Adam\u2019s work is inspired by personal experience. He developed his first addiction around the age of 13, and addictions shaped his life for over two decades. \u201cI was in treatment programs probably 20 times,\u201d Adam said. \u201cThe first was when I was 16.\u201d However, none of the programs worked for him.<\/p>\n

At age 34, Adam survived a suicide attempt. He didn\u2019t expect to wake up afterwards, so when he did, he had to make meaning from that second chance. He began following a 12-step program independently and emphasizes that he approached the process whole-heartedly and with completely honesty.<\/p>\n

In January 2025, Adam celebrated 10 years of sobriety.<\/p>\n

Now, in his final semester at UFV, Adam is a theatre major\/philosophy minor. He is brutally honest about his experiences, and draws on them to create work such as \u201cNameless Faceless,\u201d saying he wants \u201cto put people in the headspace of what it\u2019s like for people with addictions.\u201d<\/p>\n

But that process also involves putting himself in that headspace. As a performer and self-confessed claustrophobic, climbing into that body bag isn\u2019t easy. \u201cI had to invite the old Adam back in,\u201d he explained. That work took its toll \u2014 after performing the piece for the first time, Adam felt intense depression and the urge to use drugs again for around three months.<\/p>\n

\u201cI talked to some of my theatre professors about it,\u201d Adam said. The message was important, but so was his well-being. \u201cThey taught me some methods, a ritual, to get into that despair at the start of a performance and back out of it after.\u201d<\/p>\n

Adam has now performed \u201cNameless Faceless\u201d in different venues, including at the Land\/Body<\/em> Reception and outside the Clock Tower in Chilliwack, as shown in the photos at the gallery. This spring, he plans to take the performance to Hastings Street in Vancouver.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is my hope that people won\u2019t just look at the homeless and addicted but that they would actually see them. See their stories! See that they didn\u2019t just wake up one day and choose to be an addict.\u201d<\/p>\n

Land\/Body Performance Archive<\/em> is open to the public until March 28. It can be viewed at the S\u2019eliyemetaxwtexw Art Gallery weekdays from 12:00\u20135:00 PM, located in room B136 at UFV\u2019s Abbotsford campus, with additional pieces displayed around the first floor of C Building. The exhibition was curated by Luke Pardy and Anna Griffith, and in addition to Adam\u2019s work, includes creations by Sidi Chen, Candace Couse & Manjot Kaur, Urial Guerrero-Acconcha, Sterling Kai Pollock, Cobi Timmermans, and Lumina Quartet. More information can be found on the S\u2019eliyemetaxwtexw Art Gallery website<\/a>. Adam\u2019s work can also be found on Instagram at @namelessfaces43<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

CHASI had the privilege of speaking with UFV student Adam Nelson about his powerful art installation, which is currently on display at UFV. His work touched our team and provides a window into why work supporting people with addictions is so critically needed. The current exhibition at the S\u2019eliyemetaxwtexw Gallery might catch your eyes, or … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":232,"featured_media":1934,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"generate_page_header":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[304,307,174,305,306],"class_list":["post-1931","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-adam-nelson","tag-addiction","tag-art","tag-land-body","tag-performance"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/chasi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1931","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/chasi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/chasi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/chasi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/232"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/chasi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1931"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/chasi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1931\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1986,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/chasi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1931\/revisions\/1986"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/chasi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1934"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/chasi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1931"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/chasi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1931"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/chasi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1931"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}