Exhibit Brings Substance Use Disorder into the Light

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Posted on August 21, 2024

Joy Washington

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The University of South Alabama is collaborating with the INTO LIGHT Project to host the exhibition, “Drug Addiction: Real People, Real Stories,” to open Thursday, Aug. 29, at 6 p.m. in the Student Center Art Gallery Area near the Ballroom.

A national nonprofit, the INTO LIGHT Project works to destigmatize the topic of addiction by bringing to light the stories of individuals who lost their lives to a drug overdose/drug poisoning or drug-related causes. Educational programming will be held throughout the eleven months of the exhibition. Through the 41 original graphite portraits, the discussion of substance use disorder (SUD) addiction, and overdose, helps provide some relief for families who have lost loved ones to the overdose epidemic, as well as encouraging those battling SUD to seek help.

Founder Theresa Clower took up portrait work to deal with her grief after her son Devin died of an accidental overdose of fentanyl in 2018. After completing Devin’s portrait, she was inspired to find others who lived and died like her son and to show the extent of the drug epidemic through exhibits involving each state. She aspired to draw other portraits, tell their stories and start a dialogue around the disease.

A national team of artists, including one from Alabama are commissioned to draw graphite portraits of those lost to the disorder, which are drawn based on photographs of the individuals whose stories make up the exhibit. 

Clower said the pencil drawings serve as an intentional reminder that we are all made up of dark and light, and every shade in between.

The United States lost an estimated 107,622 individuals from drug overdose, fentanyl poisoning or drug-induced homicide in 2021. In 2017, recognizing the extent of the crisis, Gov. Kay Ivey established the Alabama Opioid Overdose and Addiction Council to develop a comprehensive strategic plan to abate the opioid crisis in Alabama. The Alabama Department of Public Health reported 1,408 overdose deaths reported in 2021. 

The INTO LIGHT Project’s mission is to change the national conversation around addiction. 

The Alabama INTO LIGHT Project exhibit features stories and graphite portraits of individuals with some connection to Alabama who lost their lives to a drug-related overdose. When the show closes in June, loved ones will receive the portraits as gifts. 

The Alabama exhibit is part of a nationwide effort by INTO LIGHT Project to have displays in each of the nation’s 50 states. Exhibits have also been held in California, Florida, Maryland, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia, Delaware and Colorado.

The Alabama INTO LIGHT exhibit was prepared in collaboration with the university’s Libraries Art Galleries, including the Art Space at the Biomedical Library, the Mary Elizabeth and Charles Bernard Rodning Gallery of Art and the USA Archaeology Museum. The exhibit will be open and free to the public at the USA Student Center from 8 a.m. until 8 p.m. Monday through Friday until December 6, 2024. The exhibit will reopen at the USA Archaeology Museum on January 13, 2025, until June 2025. 

For more information, visit the INTO LIGHT Project website or contact INTOLIGHT Project at https://intolightproject.org/contact/. 

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