Pillen en Poeders 2013
Dr Stan van Belkum, Deputy Director Boerhaave Museum Leiden
“Wieg tot Graf astonishes and fascinates, but it also raises critical questions about the use of medicinal products and views on health and care.”
The story behind a photograph 2011
David Critchley writes for The Photographers Gallery website: “The image shown here was taken in September 2011 while setting up the exhibitionDaglig Dosis by Pharmacopoeia at the KunstCentret Silkeborg Bad in Denmark…”
The power of presence 2009
The ‘Cradle to Grave’ installation at the British Museum
Camilla Mordhorst, Director M/S Museet for Søfart
“The Living and Dying gallery opened at the British Museum five years ago. Praised by critics, this award-winning exhibition is one of the most well attended exhibitions at the Museum. A visit to the gallery makes it apparent that it is the contemporary art installation, Cradle to Grave, that is particularly attractive to the visitors. The aim of this article is to explore why this installation is so effective.”
Published in Museum and Society, November 2009.
Wieg tot Graf: Cradle to Grave in the Netherlands 2009
Dr Liz Lee
Wieg tot Graf is a new version of the installation Cradle to Grave, created for the exhibition Niet Normaal (Not Normal). It shows the life of ‘everywoman’ and ‘everyman’ living in the Netherlands today.
‘Cradle to Grave’, In Sickness and in Health 2009
Susie Freeman, Liz Lee, David Critchley
In 2003, Pharmacopoeia received a major commission from the British Museum, leading to the work ‘Cradle to Grave’. It tells the story of an average man and woman through the medication they have taken in their life accompanied by photographs, documents and objects. This article describes in detail the remarkable content of this art installation.
Published in In Sickness and in Health in 2009 by VUB Press.
Dose at Holloway Prison 2009
Katie Lloyd Thomas
Pharmacopoeia made the Dose installation for Holloway Women’s Prison to engage with inmates and inspire them to develop related artwork. Katie Lloyd Thomas gives an insight into the working process.
Behind ‘White Pain’ 2007
White pain is made from the pill packaging that remains after one man’s lifetime of taking painkillers. It starts with the medications he took as a child, paracetamol for earache, toothache and sore throats…
Malaria and the creation of Veil of Tears 2007
We have based this piece on the experience of people living in the small town of Maseno on the shores of Lake Victoria. It is an area where malaria is so common that by the age of two nearly every child will have been infected.
HIV and making Table Talk 2004
Susie Freeman
A description of the process for creating Table Talk, including an overview of HIV infection in the UK, and some of the stories from the piece.
‘Pharmacopoeia’ in Feminist Review 2002
Dr Liz Lee
In this article I describe the development of my collaboration with the textile artist Susie Freeman in the production of the visual arts project Pharmacopoeia.
Published in Feminist Review no.72, in 2002.
Under Wraps — The Menstrual Narrative 2000
Dr Liz Lee
When I was at medical school one of my fellow students said to a rather grand surgeon with eight children “Congratulations sir, I hear your wife has had a period”. We thought it was very funny at the time although the consultant apparently didn’t…
Pharmaceutical haute couture 2000
Colin Martin
“…The garments work aesthetically, as well as on a conceptual level. The distinctive gold and emerald green of the Microgynon coat, and matching shawl, is strikingly beautiful…”
Published in The Lancet, Volume 355, Issue 9211, April 2000
The Birth of Medico-Political Art 2000
Joe Collier
There can hardly be anything more stimulating than the birth of a new art form, but here we have it…
Published to mark exhibition at Contemporary Applied Arts, London, 2000