This piece is about the interplay of the individual using drugs and the culture they grew up in. It shows a person seated using opioids, with a poppy flower and sun over their head. They are attempting to create a more expansive consciousness and comfortable existence. In the beginning the addictive substance is experienced as life enhancing. Surrounding the person are problems of modern culture: consumerism and the trash/ pollution it creates, the negative messages of media, the addictive substances that the government taxes (lotto, cigarettes, marijuana), the profits of pharmaceutical companies, the fake connection provided by cell phones/ social media and the escapism of TV and video games. When personal trauma occurs in a culture such as this, addiction follows. For a while it is the solution for individuals. Why would you feel terrible if you didn’t have to? So, next we notice the flip side of addiction. Upside down, is pictured the aging person using nodded out in a chair under a blood red moon. The spirit is hovering above his head in a disassociated and dark state. In the tree we see all the negative feelings and thoughts that the person struggles with. We see the judgmental words of society next to a nasal Narcan.
