Cycles and Circles
The opioid awareness project Cycles and Circles explores the opioid epidemic through art and considers its effect on people struggling with addiction, their family members, and the inner city community at large. This project resulted in a book created through a collaboration between Bissell Centre community members and local artists. A series of workshops were held through the summer of 2018 with numerous participants who shared their deeply personal stories and artwork about addiction. A selection of visual artworks are included in this exhibition.
About the Bissell Centre
The Bissell Centre is located in the heart of Edmonton’s inner city and provides services to people who are experiencing poverty and/or homelessness. We see upwards to 400 clients a day that face various forms of oppression, including intergenerational trauma, racism, poverty and poor health. We have seen many clients lose their lives to the opioid epidemic over the past few years. We hope that the Cycles and Circles publication empowers our community and provides much-needed information on where to seek help.