You are invited to attend 'The Climb Back' Exhibition
Dates: 12 - 22 August 2025 (Monday - Friday)
Time: 10am - 2pm daily (excluding weekends)
Location: Mind the Gap Studio, The Silk Warehouse, Bradford, BD9 4SA
About: 'The Climb Back' is a powerful art exhibition co-created with stroke survivors as part of the NIHR-funded ADAPT study, using creative expression to explore and share the diverse experiences of recovery after stroke and highlight tailored support approaches for different stroke survivor types.
About the project
Using arts to express the ‘climb back’ after stroke for different stroke survivors
The ADAPT study is a 1-year, NIHR-funded project led by Dr Jess Johansson from the Academic Unit for Ageing and Stroke Research at the University of Leeds and Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. It aims to reduce sedentary behaviour after stroke - an important goal with potential physical, emotional, and social benefits. Building on the RECREATE project, ADAPT seeks to better tailor support by identifying different ‘types’ of stroke survivors and understanding how best to help each group with reducing the time that they spend sitting.
Using an innovative "ideal-type" analysis of interviews with stroke survivors, alongside creative workshops involving stroke survivors, carers, and NHS staff from Bradford Teaching Hospitals, Leeds Community, and Leeds Teaching Hospitals, the team has identified four distinct types: determined, passive, fearful, and overwhelmed. These types have been creatively represented - using tools like sweets and artworks - to help engage participants, including those with aphasia, and to make the findings more accessible and meaningful.
A particularly special part of the project is the involvement of stroke survivor Mark Chappell, who has created original artwork for the ADAPT exhibition. Jess first met Mark and his wife Caroline - leads of the Say Aphasia Skipton group - in 2023 while developing the initial grant application. During those early conversations, Mark shared artwork he had taken to the Say Aphasia group. Once funding for the project was granted, Jess visited the group many times. Mark and Caroline expressed interest in being part of the workshops being conducted as part of ADAPT and Jess had the idea to ask Mark to do the art work for this project, having seen his very creative flare and the joy it brought to others within the stroke group.
Although the team has worked with several brilliant artists in past research, this is the first time they have collaborated with a stroke survivor to produce original artwork. Jess saw this as a unique and powerful opportunity that couldn’t be missed. Jess said:
“I love the energy in Mark’s drawings, the way he can bring such powerful messages to life in a way that really appeals to other people who have had a stroke is just brilliant. Working with Mark with the support from Caroline to produce all of this creativity has been a really wonderful addition to the ADAPT project, I am excited for the exhibition.”
In line with Mark’s preferences, payment for his time has been made as a contribution to Say Aphasia as a charity - supporting the broader community while also recognising his valuable role.
The upcoming exhibition has been co-created with Mark and Caroline. Mark has brought his creativity, insight, and deep understanding of life after stroke to every part of the process. He is very much at the heart of the exhibition, shaping not only the artwork but also the overall look and feel of the space. Jess has met with Mark and Caroline on several occasions to make plans for the exhibition- each meeting is filled with excitement and has reignited Jess’s passion for arts and creativity. Mark has a wonderful instinct for how things should be presented and will make the exhibition what it is - a space that’s accessible, striking, and full of meaning for those with lived experience.
Speaking about his experience, Mark shared: “So just having an opportunity to have people at the exhibition to see something that they may not be connected to, that might actually save their lives. They might think ooo I had better check my blood pressure, oh crikey, it happens! To see all these fantastic academics and NHS people…brilliant! It is unbelievable that I have been asked by fantastic Jess to do the art for the exhibition. I do believe that it is very very pertinent to the messages that we are trying to get across.”
The ADAPT study concludes in August 2025 and will provide tailored recommendations on how best to support each of the different stroke survivor types. Huge thanks to everyone involved in shaping this thoughtful and creative project.
"It has been really brilliant because we had 4 separate sessions where we have been asked to be involved and people have been genuinely interested in what we have been saying. It is so easy post stroke if you are lucky enough to survive to not eventually disappear. You know, your life changes. I have met so many people and it is the same old story. You know your life has changed, so just seeing positive people being given the time and the space to communicate and an opportunity to be listened to and just being in a position like that is such a positive thing."
To share these findings widely, an arts exhibition named by Mark as ‘the climb back’ showcasing the study’s creative outputs will be held at Mind the Gap Studio, Lister Mills, Bradford, and will be open to the public for viewing daily from 10am to 2pm (excluding weekends) from 12th to 22nd August.
