Where Misery is Manufactured (2020) part of the series titled Stomacherrr (2020) Cotton embroidery on cotton canvas.
Twenty Distempers (2020) part of the series titled Stomacherrr (2020) Cotton embroidery and lacquered senna pods on watered silk.
This pair of embroidered panels, fashioned after the 18th century garment called a stomacher, are an examination of the use of plant-based laxatives within Western medicine and culture. In particular, they chart the rise of (unregulated) medicinal advertising from the 16th to the early twentieth century. Often these laxative advertisements made outlandish and wide-reaching claims, or used body horror, shaming, and false science to appeal to customers. They also disseminated the mistaken belief in autointoxication, a the myth that the human body was poisoned by constipation. The legacy of this aggressive marketing is still felt in a widespread overuse, misuse, and abuse of laxatives.
