Lilly Nichols
Faculty Sponsor: Shaw Smith, Nalia Mamoon
This presentation explores the relationship between how substance use disorders were portrayed throughout art history and how this contributed to and reflected serious social stigma surrounding SUDs. It also connects how shifts in personal experience and artistic autonomy in the 19th and 20th centuries paved the way for breaking down this stigma and providing more compassionate discourse around SUDs. It explores how art has both encouraged and challenged racist, classist and stigmatizing views of SUDs and how this translated into policy and adverse health outcomes from people who use drugs. Lastly it explores contemporary “populist” art addresses current national debates about SUDs most notably the opioid crisis.