About
the Exhibition
Donors Preview: Wednesday, June 23, 6 - 7 pm
Opening reception: Wednesday, June 23, 7 - 10 pm
The Social Art Collective is proud to present Heroin Stamp
Project, an exhibition focusing on the branding of heroin
in New York City. At once beautiful and unsettling, the images
in the exhibit illustrate a complex narrative around public health
and preventable consequences of injection drug use.
In the New York City drug trade, as in many enterprises, marketing
and branding are key. Dealers distribute individual hits of heroin
in glassine (a durable, translucent paper) packets, which are
stamped with eye-catching insignia made up of colorful words and
images. As individual branding agents, each stamp carries multiple
layers of connotation. The designs tend to glorify the high ("Monster
Power"), address the mortality of addiction ("Last Shot"),
or draw upon pop culture references for notoriety ("Obama").
For decades, these stamps have inspired underground brand loyalties
that walk a thin line between the ultimate high and the last high;
signaling a drug's potency, the most popular stamps often contain
hits that trigger overdoses.
Collected from New York City streets over the course of the past
five years, Heroin Stamp Project will present over 100 distinct
stamped heroin packets. The exhibition is comprised of large-scale
prints depicting these seductive, yet sinister symbols in startling
detail. Blown up to monumental proportions, these images become
confrontational, insinuating the complex nature of drug use, from
the market dynamics of suppliers and dealers, to the motivation
and histories behind individual users. The gritty, torn glassine
edge presented in each sharply rendered image imparts a visual
trace of the drug's consumption. Each stamp's graphic is nuanced
by the confluence of highly charged words that accompany imagery
or symbols assimilated from the domain of the everyday. “Game
Over” borrows from the realm of the electronic videogame;
“LIFE” appropriates the visual language of mainstream
magazines; and “Notorious” nods to popular music.
By juxtaposing the culturally familiar with the socially taboo,
these loaded images trigger questions about the public policies
and stigma that shape addiction and disease. Nearly 2,000 stamps
arranged to represent one user's yearly consumption will chart
a visual map of addiction on the gallery walls.
As GOOD Magazine wrote in their review of the project,
“it's a fascinating look at things one doesn't otherwise
get to see (which can make for great art), but the project also
hopes to call attention to the public health issues surrounding
drug use, and the associated health care costs that could be mitigated
by things like clean-needle programs.”
Of all reported AIDS cases in the U.S. 25% have been transmitted
through injection drug use. An estimated 75% of injection drug
users are infected with Hepatitis C. The exhibit will leverage
potent images to bring the health crisis among users to the public
forum. Through this intimate, visual confrontation, a population
that is often disregarded will have the opportunity to be humanized.
Audiences are compelled to consider the problem of heroin addiction
from a humanitarian and public health perspective often absent
from public debate. Heroin Stamp Project draws its funding from
community and grassroots sources. The project has been made possible
in part with public funds from the Manhattan Community Arts Fund,
supported by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs
and administered by Lower Manhattan Cultural Council. Significant
funds were also raised through community members on the innovative
startup website, Kickstarter, leveraging social networking to
fund creative ideas and ambitious endeavors.
A percentage of all proceeds from the sale of the pieces will
benefit the Lower East Side Harm Reduction Center (http://www.leshrc.org/),
a community based not for profit committed to serving the diverse
needs of the Lower East Side with tools and resources necessary
to meet the challenges posed by HIV/AIDS and hepatitis c.
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