Category: In The News

Plaistow woman to host art show on addiction

572a89fd1f1a7.imagePLAISTOW — A local woman who lost her daughter to heroin will hold an art show in Portsmouth on Mother’s Day to bring attention to the toll of addiction.

Anne Marie Zanfagna of Plaistow began painting in August, almost one year after the death of her 25-year-old daughter, Jackie.

Jackie’s face was the first she painted. She chose an older photo, one where her daughter looked happy and healthy.

“I paint them to bring attention and awareness to the public about heroin because I want to put a face to the number,” she said. “I think showing this through art is really our basic humanity.”

Zanfagna brought Jackie’s portrait — a 12 ½-by-12 ½-inch pink-and-purple piece — to a monthly gathering at a church in Plaistow hosted by activist Doug Griffin of Newton.

She painted a portrait of Griffin’s daughter, Courtney, in December, and then the requests began to pour in. Courtney, 20, died of a heroin overdose in September 2014.

Read more on the Eagle Tribune.

Fourteen Angels of Addictions

Anne Marie Zanfagna displayed 14 portraits of Angels of Addictions that she has completed at the monthly support meeting at Mercy Street in Plaistow, NH, last night. Anne Marie’s painting have drawn the attention of the media and she and her work have been featured in few stories in the news.

Display of Portraits

Currently, Anne Marie has approximately 25 more portraits she is working on. Her paintings are form of art therapy, not only for herself but for all of the families and friends of the Angels lost to heroin addiction that she has painted including her own daughter Jackie Zanfagna, who died of an overdose in October 2014.

Anne Marie’s mission is show the real faces of addiction, not statistics. She hopes to garner support for more treatment options and recovery facilities, while lessening the stigma attached to heroin addiction. As Anne Marie’s portfolio of portraits continues to grow, Anne Marie would like to display her paintings where those responsible for passing legislation that would help addicts and their families, will see them, State Houses and the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C.

WMUR’s Chronicle: Thursday, February 11th: Angels of Addiction

Thursday’s edition of WMUR’s Chronicle is available to watch online here:  February 11th: Angels of Addiction:

“A Plaistow mom is using her art to help heal. Anne Marie Zanfagna’s daughter Jackie was a victim of the heroin and opioid crisis facing our state. Now Anne Marie is keeping the faces of those lost, alive, and through her art she has found her voice and a way to help others.”
WMUR Photo

WMUR Photo

The outpouring of love and support for my work is so heartening. I’ve received more requests for portraits since this aired and anticipate as more people watch online I will continue to receive requests.

Please consider a donation to Angels of Addictions Startup Fund on GoFundMe to help pay for art supplies, the website and startup costs for a nonprofit (see the Wishlist on GoFundMe).

My goal is to take the portraits I am painting on a traveling exhibit to State Houses around the country and Capitol Hill in effort to raise awareness, provide solace and healing, to help erase the stigma of heroin addiction and most importantly get more help for our children as the heroin epidemic continues to grow.

Love and light… Anne Marie Zanfagna

In The News: OD Victims’ Parents Tell Their Stories

Eagle Tribune Photo: Ryan Hutton Staff Photographer

Eagle Tribune Photo: Ryan Hutton Staff Photographer

The Lawrence Eagle Tribune has a new article in its ongoing series on Heroin Addiction, The Heroin Crisis, highlighting the upcoming “special episode of Phil Lahey’s addiction awareness television show, “The Empty Chair,” set to air on Methuen Community Television this week.” Phil Lahey show is co-hosted with his daughter Colleen Lahey, who has been clean for seven years.

The hour-long special of “The Empty Chair” is scheduled to air at 9 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 26, and at 5 p.m. Friday, Jan. 29, on http://www.methuentv.org

Angels Of Addictions founder James Zanfagna, is one of the guests on the upcoming hour long episode and is featured in the Eagle Tribune article: OD victims’ parents tell their stories.

In The News: Portraits Of Those Killed By Heroin Bring Healing And Awareness

Amanda Jordan, Diane Yelle and Jim Zanfagna hold portraits of their children killed by overdoses at a service for families affected by addiction at the First Baptist Church of Plaistow on Dec. 20, in Plaistow, N.H. Anne Marie Zanfagna stands in the back. Tamara Keith/NPR

Amanda Jordan, Diane Yelle and Jim Zanfagna hold portraits of their children killed by overdoses at a service for families affected by addiction at the First Baptist Church of Plaistow on Dec. 20, in Plaistow, N.H. Anne Marie Zanfagna stands in the back.
Tamara Keith/NPR

Originally published on NPR.org on December 27, 2015

When Jackie Zanfagna died last year at 25 years old, her parents did something bold. In the first sentence of her obituary they acknowledge what killed her: an accidental overdose of heroin.

Now her mom Anne Marie Zanfagna is pouring her grief out onto canvas and in the process helping other parents who have experienced the same loss.

Zanfagna is an artist. But, she says, for six months after her daughter died she was too devastated to pick up a paint brush.

“I didn’t want to shower,” Zanfagna said. “All kinds of things. You just don’t want to do anything. But I figured I have to start doing something. And then I decided that I wanted to paint a picture of Jacqueline.”

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Read the full article.

In The News: Mother uses art to remember those killed by heroin

Originally published in the Lawrence Eagle Tribune and the Newburyport Daily News:

By Breanna Edelstein Staff writer

CARL RUSSO/Staff photoAnne Marie Zanfagna paints a portrait of heroin overdose victim Daniel Barnes. After losing her 25-year-old daughter, Jackie, to a heroin overdose, Zanfagna began painting these portraits to remember those who have been lost to the epidemic.

CARL RUSSO/Staff photoAnne Marie Zanfagna paints a portrait of heroin overdose victim Daniel Barnes. After losing her 25-year-old daughter, Jackie, to a heroin overdose, Zanfagna began painting these portraits to remember those who have been lost to the epidemic.

PLAISTOW, N.H. — Anne Marie Zanfagna’s passion for painting vanished when her daughter, Jackie, needed help fighting a heroin addiction.

“I found out about (the drug use) and I just stopped painting for a while. I couldn’t do it. It was just too hard,” said the Plaistow resident. “Everything became too hard.”

Now, a year after Jackie’s overdose death, the mourning mother is turning her grief into art by picking up a paintbrush — preserving the memory of her own child, and the children of others.

The endeavor started with church. On the third Sunday of every month at First Baptist Church of Plaistow, an interactive prayer service is held for addicts, recovering addicts and family members suffering a loss. It was spearheaded by Doug Griffin, a Newton, N.H., man who lost his 20-year-old daughter, Courtney, to a heroin overdose in September 2014.

“It’s a wonderful service and it’s growing every month,” Griffin said. “It’s such a healing thing for the community.”

Zanfagna and her husband, Jim, now meet regularly at the church with people who have similarly become entangled in the heroin epidemic. There, they feel understood because everyone in the group has a similar story about themselves or a loved one.

For the Zanfagnas, that story began when Jackie was in elementary school and struggled for years with an undiagnosed mood disorder.

“When she was feeling good, she was a very wonderful daughter,” Anne Marie said. “But the bad outweighed the good for a long time. It was very difficult.”

After surviving one overdose, Jackie bounced back and found herself with a job and a boyfriend, her mother said.

For a moment, it seemed like the nightmare may be over. But within two months, on Oct. 18, 2014, Jackie died of a heroin overdose at the age of 25. She had been clean for 11 months prior to her death.

The months after Jackie’s death were hard, but eventually Anne Marie regained the desire to paint. At that point, the only subject she wanted to paint was her daughter.

“I just wanted to do it, so I did,” she said.

Deciding where to begin was easy.

A memory of Jackie with a smile, light in her eyes and hot pink and purple streaks in her hair served as inspiration.

“It took a long time, painting her, because it was a chance for me to spend time with her,” she said.

After finding joy in her own painting, which now hangs in her living room, Anne Marie wanted to spread the same emotion to others.

Her thoughts turned to her support system down at the church.  Read More