Art > Empty Fix Series > ADDICT
ADDICT
When you see the word “ADDICT,” what picture comes to mind?
Dark alleys? Crime? Needles hanging out of arms?
At treatment centers, administrators would caution me to never use the word “addict”during interviews. “These are people suffering from substance use disorder,” they told me. Over 90% of treatment centers incorporate 12-step programs like AA and NA, which have participants introduce themselves as addicts. In fact, most of my interviewees referred to themselves as addicts. That, they explained, in their reality.
Instead of avoiding the word "addict," through this artwork I strive to democratize it by depicting other addictions people suffer: compulsive cell phone usage, shopping, food, gaming, gambling, smoking, porn, and extreme politics.
Of all the addictions we observe, why do we assign the greatest stigma to the addiction that involves the least room for choice, and the greatest chemically-induced compulsion?
That makes no sense.
Instead of avoiding the word "addict," through this artwork I strive to democratize it by depicting other addictions people suffer: compulsive cell phone usage, shopping, food, gaming, gambling, smoking, porn, and extreme politics.
Of all the addictions we observe, why do we assign the greatest stigma to the addiction that involves the least room for choice, and the greatest chemically-induced compulsion?
That makes no sense.
