The Pill Mill
The Pill Mill was designed to engage the public with a simple visual presentation of one of our nation’s most complex problems. This sculpture speaks to the intersection of addiction and the pharmaceutical industry, inviting viewers to think critically about how companies contribute to addiction.
PRESIDENT'S
PURCHASE PRIZE
2021 Art Exhibition
Evan Sievers
winner
Ideation & Fabrication
I worked through a variety of ideas but was most attracted to a concept that linked the obvious lethality of a bullet casing with the less obvious lethality of an opioid-based pill
One of the most compelling data points I found when exploring the opioid crisis indicated that in 2019 about 70,000 people in the U.S. overdosed. As a response, this work exhibits 700 “pill bullets”, each made from a mold I created. Every one of my carefully crafted bullets correlates to about 100 people.
​
Fabrication was my next challenge, requiring me to procure and mold bullet casings while extending them with the opioid pill form.
Fabricating 700 custom forms required discipline and diligence during a pandemic, when studio spaces were not always available but where a final deadline remained firm. Each day, I labored in the studio to craft just fifteen to twenty delicate pieces, with a significant number of them breaking during the process. Every day, I experienced the joy of creation while simultaneously feeling the despair of loss. It was a labor of purpose and love that required resilience and commitment.
What's the problem?
In 2019, over 70,000 people overdosed and died from opioids
745,000 people used heroin in the past year
10.1MM people misused prescription opioids during the past year
Final Piece
Accolades
Winner 2021 President's Purchase Prize
Colby College
Each year following the Colby College Senior Art Exhibition, a jury of art educators and professionals, selects one meritorious project to win the President’s Purchase Prize, which is then purchased by the school’s Office of the President. This was the 2021 prize-winner and it is now permanently displayed at Colby.
“The Pill Mill aims to reveal the flaws of our collective consciousness by giving us space to truly think about the perverse relationships between medicine and violence and between the idea of sterile “transparency” and the disposability of humans. As the media shapes collective consciousness by cycling news of drug abuse while letting pharmaceutical companies off the hook, Evan pushes back, demanding that we contend with the sheer reality of lives lost.” Colby 2021 Senior Art Exhibit Catalogue