SHOW CHALLENGES ATTITUDES

[postman]

CHRISANTHI GIOTIS

Tuesday, 17 January 2006

 

While drugs may have played a role in many of Andy Warhol's 1960s artworks, it's not often art galleries hold an exhibition dealing with the subject of drugs.

 

That's why the Dubbo Regional Gallery (DRG) is pretty excited about the exhibition that opened last weekend and will continue until March 12.

 

Drugs: A Social History was first organised for the Justice and Police Museum, Sydney by the Historic Houses Trust and is now on at the DRG exhibition space at the Dubbo Branch Macquarie Regional Library.

 

The exhibition brings fascinating facts to light - like past medical practices that included prescribing heroin for relief of pain in childbirth, and cannabis cigarettes as an asthma cure.

 

Curator Inara Walden from the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre at the University of NSW said the exhibition used images, objects and film to highlight key episodes in Australia's drug-taking history - from sly grog shops to safe injecting rooms.

 

The exhibition charts our attitudes to drug use and the often dramatic changes in those attitudes during the 20th century.

 

"The reality is that we live in a drug-taking society," Ms Walden said. "The choices we make about drug use are strongly bound up with our identity and beliefs," she said.

 

"Whether certain drugs are permitted, condoned or banned often reveals more about a society's values than it does about the real risk of drugs.

 

"This exhibition doesn't pretend to provide solutions to problems associated with drug use in our society but by analysing the social context of drug use and tracing changes in our attitudes and laws relating to drugs it hopes to unravel some preconceptions."

 

 

http://dubbo.yourguide.com.au/detail.asp?c...News&m=1&y=2006

[dsyfer]

Everyone should get a complimentary joint to walk around the exhibition with ::

[nugget]

Everyone should get a complimentary joint to walk around the exhibition with ::

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

:: why stop there??

 

Might as well give the meth users a free whack and the eccy users a free pill too, or someone gonne get done for discrimination

 

But seriously, I would like very much to be able to see this exhibition. Im sure there would be plenty of stuff to see and learn. I wonder whether its going to be shown in other states :scratchin

[Chev]

Wow, I'd love to get a look in at it. Here's hoping it comes over to the WA art gallery, but considering the new premier we just got, I doubt it :thumbdown