Articles

Brightly-coloured pills

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.”

Two men cleaning a large glass case in a gallery

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…”

Cradle to Grave

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

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.

In Sickness and in Health

‘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: making a bag

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.

White Pain

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…

Veil of Tears

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.

Table Talk

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

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…

Come Dancing

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

O.T.C. Veil

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