Pill Bottle Mural

Pill Bottle Mural

Trigger Warnings: Medication

Date: 26Sep2022
Alter: Xaler, Taz
Material: Pill bottles
Size: Variable

So many meds. So. Many. Meds. We used to be on I think 15 scripts? We also change meds and dosages often. We have so many bottles. We sometimes wonder how much of how we are is our medication. How it changes us. Obviously, lots of benefits. Not dying is one of them. But how does it change us? What’s our brain chemistry like now? Is it better? Worse? Different? It’s hard to tell where we stop and the meds start. This is how many bottles we’ve used in the past two years. Yes, only two. As a performance piece, we make murals out of the used pill bottles that express emotions or our experiences with medications.

Most Recent Installation

Orange and white pill bottles create a foaming mouth. Surrounding it are other types of medication packages.
Orange and white pill bottles create a foaming mouth. Surrounding it are other types of medication packages.

Installations

1 - 26Sep2022

Multiple colors of pill bottles arranged to create a sleep-deprived crying set of eyes. It has black pupils, a white and orange sclera, yellow tear ducts, and white tears dripping down.
Multiple colors of pill bottles arranged to create a sleep-deprived crying set of eyes. It has black pupils, a white and orange sclera, yellow tear ducts, and white tears dripping down.
A perspective view of the first installation of the Pill Bottle Mural that shows the varying heights of the pill bottles along with the sides of the bottles.
A perspective view of the first installation of the Pill Bottle Mural that shows the varying heights of the pill bottles along with the sides of the bottles.

2 - 28Feb2023

Orange and white pill bottles create a foaming mouth. Surrounding it are other types of medication packages.
Orange and white pill bottles create a foaming mouth. Surrounding it are other types of medication packages.
A perspective view of the second installation of the Pill Bottle Mural that shows the varying heights of the pill bottles along with the sides of the bottles that gives the lips volume.
A perspective view of the second installation of the Pill Bottle Mural that shows the varying heights of the pill bottles along with the sides of the bottles that gives the lips volume.

Work In Progress Images

It took days to clean off the labels. It was so much tedious work. We soaked it for days. We had to drown it in soap for more time and then spend hours scraping off all the adhesive and trying to make the fuckers not sticky. It was so, so much work.

Also, we couldn't even shower during that time.

A bathtub full of water with floating pill bottles taking up most of the view into the bathtub.
A bathtub full of water with floating pill bottles taking up most of the view into the bathtub.