A creative road to recovery

FOUR middle-aged men sit on the back deck sucking on cigarettes - one of the few vices allowed here - and talking in staccato rhythms about drug and alcohol dependency, and photography.

''I've always felt there's a bit of creativity and artist in me which I've never really nurtured,'' says Dillon. ''To have a proper photographer with knowledge, with me being clean as well, my eyes sort of opening and my awareness coming back, and a bit of passion and spirit, it's majorly contributed to my recovery by freeing my spirit.''

Dillon, Leonard, Doc and Dave are part of a group of eight residents from Quin House, an abstinence-based supported accommodation facility for men experiencing homelessness and drug and alcohol addiction, who will be showcasing their photographs in the In Camera exhibition at a new arts space in the Collingwood Housing Estate.

Since Renae Formiatti took over as community development worker at Quin House last September, she has veered from the traditional, psychoanalytical approach to rehabilitation to include a strong creative and cultural bent.

''So much of the talk all day long is about recovery and about how much time you've gone clean. So I think it's really nice to do stuff which is gentle and creative and isn't necessarily sitting with the heavy stuff,'' she says. ''It allows you to pass your time in a really meaningful way.'' Formiatti puts a strong emphasis on the creative arts.

''I don't know if it's unconventional - to me it seems really common sense and it's happened really quite organically because the guys have responded so well to it.''

Since September, local photographer Pia Johnson has volunteered her time to conduct weekly, two-hour workshops covering photography fundamentals such as composition, light and hierarchy of subject, all the way through to basic Photoshop and post-production skills.

For some of the residents, this is their first attempt at photography beyond the happy-snap. Johnson has found their photographs to be conceptually and technically strong.

''I'm a bit blown away. There's something about nurturing somebody's talent, being able to facilitate someone going out there and seeing the world through a camera,'' she says.

''I had an expectation that they would be able to take photos but not to the calibre that they have.''

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A creative road to recovery