Such an impactful project to undertake, @Maribel Ibarra. And I love all the ideas and examples from folks. I was curious about this, because I know addiction research and the American "war on drugs" can be biased. I found a couple examples that seem to be interesting.
The INTO LIGHT Project –mentioned, "Drug Addiction: Real People, Real Stories," seems like a powerful example of real life impact. They're portrait-and-narrative exhibitions installed state by state, each showing 30-40 graphite portraits of people who died from addiction, paired with short life stories; the explicit aim is to humanize addiction and reduce stigma.
There's also one from the Museum of Addiction & Recovery that got me down a rabbit hole. It's a virtual museum that curates artworks and stories by people in active addiction and recovery, plus pop‑up shows like "The Madness & Me: Art from the Edges of Addiction" and "Redemption Through Creation."
HOOKED: When Want Becomes Need is an interactive art–science exhibition through Science Gallery Atlanta that explicitly frames addiction through a public health lens and emphasizes that "no one is exempt," exploring many forms of compulsive behavior, not only drugs.
Here's one I found that seems interesting if you're looking for a different viewpoint: DEA Museum and traveling exhibits ("Drugs: Costs and Consequences"). It's permanent and traveling exhibits that emphasize enforcement, policy history, and the societal costs of drug use, including interactive displays and artifacts.
I like that these have themes and practices like humanizing over moralizing, public health framing, lived-experience collaboration, and local data plus local stories (as you know, storytelling is so powerful.) I hope you find some solid inspiration in these conversations!
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Dan Moyle
Solutions Consultant
Digital Reach Online Solutions
(he/him/his)
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