over/medicated/under
o̶v̶e̶r̶/medicated/u̶n̶d̶e̶r̶ is constructed out of more than 6,000 prescription bottles collected over a two-year span, primarily from the Baltimore and Los Angeles community. The work activates a site-specific location and transcends the recognizable material into a visually stimulating and evocative installation. The dynamic organic structure of the work circulates the viewer underneath, resulting in continuous exploration and personal interaction with the installation.
The formal composition of o̶v̶e̶r̶/medicated/u̶n̶d̶e̶r̶ is entirely organic in its construction and only subconsciously guided by fundamental criteria to have the work communicate acceptance rather than function as a critique. This sentiment is realized through the accentuation of round soft edges and the captivating curvature of the work's biomorphic structure. The work coaxes viewers to recontextualize prescription medication, exemplifying unforeseen elegance through material metamorphosis.
Though appealing to the population unknowing of the personal struggle with mental illness or unfamiliar with the conclusive reality that psychiatric medications save lives, the work also represents a familiar echo to those who know the exhaustive trial and error processes of finding the proper medication treatment. Distinctly referenced in its title, o̶v̶e̶r̶/medicated/ u̶n̶d̶e̶r̶, the piece relates the frustrations of finding the appropriate medication and the grueling yet necessary process of working through side effects, treatment- resistant symptoms, and waiting in prolonged limbo until the right combination is found. This symbolism is reiterated through the physical environmental context of the work as it suspends between two floors in the atrium of the primary gallery. The work offers a visual dichotomy through its precise placement, allowing viewers to experience the work from above and ascend below for an entirely altered perspective.
The installation reflects organic references to brain chemistry and neurological passageways, embracing the cliché yet accurate implication of a 'chemical imbalance.' Gradually assembled in growing segments and collectively united in ungrounded flotation via distinct channel-like connections, the final resolution of the work alludes distinctly to neuronal junctions and synaptic connections. Suggestive of the benzene chemical structure, each ring with its connecting cable ties is visually characteristic of the benzene hexagon and its six molecules. In context with the proven correlation between neurotransmitter functions and mental health efficacy and the prevalence of mental illness, the work becomes allegorical in its poetic assertion of every individual's endless variations in brain chemistry.
The positioning of the work in its vertical consideration is imperative to the viewer's experience, interpretation, and ability to connect intimately with close observation. The lowest height of o̶v̶e̶r̶/medicated/u̶n̶d̶e̶r̶ falls at 6 feet and 8 inches above the ground, placing the work merely inches above the average viewer. At this elevation, careful examination of the work's meticulous and intensive process becomes unavoidable and integral to the work's consideration, interpretation, and its totality.