Cradle to Grave by Pharmacopoeia

Today I went to the British Museum. It's definitely a must see due to some of its most well known pieces, such as the Rosetta Stone, the Discus Thrower, and (replicas of) the Parthenon. But by far the best piece of work I saw was Cradle to Grave by Pharmacopoeia. 

(Click pictures to enlarge them)

The idea behind it is a physical representation of a lifetime of prescription medications and medical history/treatments of two average British citizens over their lifetime. Two long pieces of fabric serve as a timeline for the subjects' lives with individual pills woven into small pockets. The left side follows the life of a woman who is still alive today at 82 and a man who died at age 76. Each side contains about 14,000 pills. Keep in mind that this number is just the prescribed pills, not over the counter medication such as something one might take for a headache.

The fabric is accompanied by pictures and other memorabilia to help tell the story of the lives of the two subjects. Each begins with similar vaccinations commonly administered to babies but as the needs of the two individuals change, so too does the prescribed medication. 

The end of the fabric signifies the end of the lives of the two subjects. The man's side on the left ends before the woman's does as his life was shorter than the woman's. The woman's fabric is rolled up inside the glass case because as her life progresses, the number of pills she needs continues to increase. 

The plaque that accompanies the piece reads:

"Cradle to Grave explores our approach to health in Britain today and addresses some of the ways that people deal with sickness and try to secure well-being.

It was created by Susie Freeman, a textile artist, David Critchley, a video artists, and Dr Liz Lee, a general practitioner. The two lengths of fabric illustrate the medical stores of a man and a woman. Each piece contains over 14,000 drugs, the estimated average prescribed to every person in Britain in their lifetime, incorporated in 'pockets' of knitted nylon filament.

Some treatments are common to both; each starts life with an injection of vitamin K and immunisations, and both take antibiotics and painkillers at various times.
Other treatments are more specific. The man has asthma and hay fever when young, but enjoys good health until his fifties. At seventy he stops smoking after a bad chest infection. He is treated for high blood pressure for the last ten years of his life. He dies of a stroke at the age of seventy-six, having taken as many pills in the last ten years of his life as in the first sixty-six.

The woman takes contraceptive pills when young and hormone replacement therapy in middle age. After a mammogram she is diagnosed and successfully treated for breast cancer. In old age she develops arthritis and diabetes, but is still alive aged eighty-two.

Cradle to Grave also contains medical and personal objects, documents and photographs with captions written by the owners tracing typical events in people's lives. These show that maintaing well-being is more complex than just treating illness."

Something about this stood out to me. Perhaps it is my background in (and extensive knowledge of) medicine, but I just can't get over how many pills that is. 14,000! And these two people had relatively normal health concerns, nothing too serious or complicated that would require them more medications or extensive treatments. 

This makes me wonder how the United States compares to this study of the average British citizen. There is lots of hubbub in the States about over prescribing medications and just over medicating in general. I hate to get too philosophical (or ethical?) on this subject but I find it fascinating and I will definitely be doing more research on this topic.

The Museum's website has more information and detailed pictures of the piece, and I strongly encourage everyone to look at it here.