Connection

"The opposite of Addiction is Connection" My project’s starting point is from the Narrative Project ‘Extraordinary People’. I really considered one question in particular from this project, namely that of why there were so many people suffering from addiction. And then why and how people become such serious addicts. I asked myself if there was any way in which I might be able to help them as an illustrator or designer. I then found an interesting quote from a TED Talks lecture by Johann Hari, in which he discusses his opinion about addiction. “And I think the core of that message – you’re not alone, we love you – has to be at every level of how we respond to addicts, socially, politically and individually. For 100 years now, we’ve been singing war songs about addicts. I think all along we should have been singing love songs to them, because the opposite of addiction is not sobriety. The opposite of addiction is connection.” I had this quote in mind from the beginning of my project, as I was so interested in how we should treat addicts and the best way to love them and really care about them. I was very impressed and moved by his words, and completely agreed with them. I sought to imagine different reasons people might become addicts, and wondered whether I might be able to help the public, which generally understands addiction as a negative, horrible thing, to understand the issue more fully and so be able to approach it, and its victims, in a positive, helpful way.