Susan Hiller and 'Cradle to Grave'

I took a trip to London to visit the British Museum for the 'Cradle to Grave' piece in the Living and Dying section; and for the Susan Hiller exhibition at Tate Britain. 


Cradle to Grave 'Pharmacopoeia'
The piece incorporates an entire life's worth of prescription drugs for a man and a woman: essentially a medical history told through tablets taken over the course of a lifetime. The pills are knitted into long sections of fabric- over 14,000 each in total and only includes doctor/ hospital prescribed medication.

  I wanted to see the piece because I am looking at ways of demonstrating life through objects from the life. Whether it be food eaten, clothes worn or tablets taken, I think this piece is so relevant to my project and it was great to see the piece. Around the outside of the fabric (as can be seen in the image above) there are photos of family and events throughout the lives which I thought was an excellent touch that really related the thousands of drugs back to the people who used them.
The piece aims to 'explore our approach the health'* in Britain today, but also demonstrate that living doesn't just require good health- but good overall wellbeing and happiness too.


Susan Hiller
I visited the Susan Hiller exhibition at Tate Britain to see some of her pieces which I found quite interesting, such as:
Hand grenades 1972 (ashes from burnt paintings by Hiller)

From the Freud museum 1991-6 (a collection of objects, placed in boxes to give them possibly undue attention. Often mundane items placed in the spotlight. This piece was of particular interest to me because it illustrated how items which bear no importance to some people are everything to others. )

At the exhibition there was a variety of Hiller's work which I hadn't seen but really enjoyed. Her work seems to really engage in the thought processes behind why she does the work she does, and looking at the exhibition was like looking into her sketchbook.
I specifically liked:
Witness 2000
( 400 speakers transmitting voices telling stories of their encounters with aliens/ UFOs. Placed, hanging in a large fairly dim room.) The power of all these voices speaking at once brought weight to an idea that when placed alone can seem ridiculous. The room was really scary!