Spring Programs Addressing the War on Drugs

This Spring, Gallery Gachet’s programming addresses the personal, relational, and socio-political ramifications of the War on Drugs.

From April 1 – May 15, 2021, Things My Dad Taught Me, a photography series in three parts, is an art exhibition by Jackie Dives, whose practice is influenced by feminism and photojournalism.

Dives describes a shift in style across three phases of the project that parallels her own healing. After her father’s death she created overlapping, double-exposed images that were jarring and confusing, which reflected how she felt at the time of this loss. Later her images became more still and quiet, while she reflected on the complication of grieving someone who had died from such a stigmatized death. And now, for the third component of the project, she has made portraits of other people who have also experienced losing someone to a drug overdose. She contends with loss resulting from overdose as a personal and relational experience in the context of more than one public health crisis. This exhibition is part of the 2021 Capture Photography Festival Selected Exhibition Program.

Beginning in late May, Gallery Gachet will join forces with Pivot Legal Society to host three community conversations about the War on Drugs. TJ Felix, Meenakshi Mannoe, and Manuel Axel Strain will center local perspectives, contending with structures and effects of racism, colonialism, and imperialism. Stay tuned for details.

Image: Jackie Dives, I Gave Him That Mug, 2017. C-print. Image courtesy of the artist.