29 January – 13 March: Gabriele Galimberti, Home Pharma a transcultural perspective on our intimate relationship with pills
Whenever I meet people on my travels, I ask the same question: Can I see what’s in your medicine cabinet?
In almost every country in the Western world, hidden away in a corner of the bathroom or kitchen, pills, capsules and ointments pile up. In France alone, almost one medicine out of two will not be consumed. In contrast to this wasteful behavior, developing countries suffer from a chronic lack of access to healthcare. “Home Pharma” documents our relationship with medicines in the simplest terms possible. In order to show that medicine is not just a mere commodity, but is a litmus test of the society we live in, this project penetrates the intimacy of families around the world.
Michael Chamorro Suarez, 32, Flor Parkinson Valla, 33, and, from left to right, Giulia,1, Johan 7, Jamie 5 and his twin sister Sofia, 5, photographed in the living room of their house in Cahuita, Costa Rica. Flor graduated in Italy with a thesis on the migration of Italians to Costa Rica. She now runs a bakery in the village while her husband has one of the few restaurants of the small town of Cahuita. Their eldest son, Johan has been diagnosed with ADHD and prescribed Risperdal that is an antipsychotic medicine (visible first medicine on the top left). Risperdal is used to treat schizophrenia in adults and children who are at least 13 years old. Risperdal is also used to treat symptoms of irritability in autistic children who are 5 to 16 years old. Johan’s parents have bough the medicine but for the moment have not given it to him fearing it might have negative consequences bigger then the benefit.
