Colorful portraits show faces of New Hampshire drug crisis
CONCORD, N.H. — At the New Hampshire State Library’s latest art exhibit, the bright smiles and bold colours of the canvases belied the broken hearts of those who attended its opening reception.
More than 80 paintings are on display this month featuring the faces of the state’s opioid epidemic. What started as one mother’s private outlet for grief has grown into a larger effort to comfort others and reduce the stigma of addiction.
“It really puts a face to the illness,” said Heidi Maddock, of Newcastle, whose 32-year-old son, Jared, died in July 2016. She and her husband, Scott, attended the reception last week to see his portrait and dozens of others painted by Anne Marie Zanfagna.
“If you look at the eyes, there’s just something in each of their eyes that speaks, maybe not to someone else, but to us as parents, it does,” Maddock said.