After a long day of traveling we finally arrived in London and went to the British Museum. Upon arriving at the museum we had an assignment to find a sculpture or piece of art that spoke to us. As I began to wonder around the museum, I started to get a little nervous because nothing I had looked at really spoke to me. Until I stumbled upon the display, Cradle to Grave by Pharmacopoeia. A textile artist named Susie Freeman, a video artist named David Critchley, and a general practitioner named Dr. Liz Lee created the incredible display that stood before me. This display was simply a compilation of the estimated number of pills that the average British person is prescribed in their lifetime. There were about 14,000 pills knitted into two different pieces of fabric, which represented the medical history of one man and one woman. In addition to the 14,000 pills, the display included photos, and documents to portray different events that happened in the people’s lives. Each collection of pills represented an illness that the person had and showed the period of time that they took them for.
While looking at this display I began to think about the New York Times article we read. The article, “The Art of Slowing Down in a Museum”, talks about how it is more beneficial to look at one or a few things for a long period of time instead of simply looking at many different things for less than thirty seconds each. With this in mind, I took the time to actually stop and look at this display for about 15-20 minutes instead of just glancing at it and going on to the next one. However, I didn’t find it hard to spend that much time looking at it because there was so much to take in.
This display was unlike any other that I had seen in a museum before. It was so unique and that is what I loved about it. It incorporated science and art together to make an amazing display that really makes you think. I found it so intriguing and shocking to think about how that many pills can go through one person’s body in a lifetime. I even began to find it mesmerizing to look at the thousands upon thousands of pills that were laid out before me and the various illnesses that the drugs treated. It is one thing to think about how many pills you put into our body in a lifetime but it is another thing to actually have a visual of it right in front of you, it is a very powerful piece.
-Kelsey Krug
While looking at this display I began to think about the New York Times article we read. The article, “The Art of Slowing Down in a Museum”, talks about how it is more beneficial to look at one or a few things for a long period of time instead of simply looking at many different things for less than thirty seconds each. With this in mind, I took the time to actually stop and look at this display for about 15-20 minutes instead of just glancing at it and going on to the next one. However, I didn’t find it hard to spend that much time looking at it because there was so much to take in.
This display was unlike any other that I had seen in a museum before. It was so unique and that is what I loved about it. It incorporated science and art together to make an amazing display that really makes you think. I found it so intriguing and shocking to think about how that many pills can go through one person’s body in a lifetime. I even began to find it mesmerizing to look at the thousands upon thousands of pills that were laid out before me and the various illnesses that the drugs treated. It is one thing to think about how many pills you put into our body in a lifetime but it is another thing to actually have a visual of it right in front of you, it is a very powerful piece.
-Kelsey Krug