Pharmacopoeia Pill Dress -coming soon

However outré, none of the brands at this month’s fashion fair have what we will have soon: A dress made entirely out of pills woven into fine, black fabric. Spectacular and (thought) provoking, the art work tries to visualize the cluster of metabolic diseases such as diabetes and cardiovascular conditions (often referred to as ‘metabolic syndrome’), as well as related complications like depression and pain, that is one of the great health problems of our time. In the art work, the 10 year medical records of two women living with chronic metabolic diseases, come together to form one larger-than-life pill dress. When the summer was at its hottest, Bente and I went to London to talk to the two women behind the dress: Dr. Liz Lee and artist Susie Freeman of Pharmacopoeia. At her consultation in Bristol, Liz introduced us to her patient Jaz, who has ‘donated’ her medical record to form part of the basis for the artwork. The discussion quickly became very open and personal. Because these metabolic diseases are both dependent on genetic predispositions as well as personal life style, any one of us who have had diabetes in the family or are a little bigger around the waist (not even a lot, < 80 cm. for women) might be at risk. This is why it is so important to raise awareness about in a non-didactic, personal and visual way, and that is just what art can do. Next day we went to Susie’s lovely but sizzling hot Notting Hill studio. Dominating the ...
Source: Biomedicine on Display - Category: Medical Scientists Authors: Tags: aesthetics of biomedicine art and biomed art and science pharma industry visualization art and medicine london artists metabolic syndrome pharmacopoeia pill dress Source Type: blogs