Where Art, Spirit and Drugs Meet the Mind

Has it ever occurred to you the difference in cultural attitudes to drugs? Cocaine, Tobacco via Peyote to Kava and Ayahuasca, have long been integral to rituals, healing practices, and spiritual journeys in different parts of the world as well as types of experiments and excitements in others. Different sets of people have different attitudes to drugs whether naturally made or synthetically produced. These attitudes are delved into with a new exhibition Why Do We Do Drugs? Find out more in Where Art, Spirit, and Drugs Meet the Mind.

Through a kaleidoscope of art, culture, and raw human experience, the new exhibition Power Plants: Intoxicants, Stimulants, and Narcotics at the Sainsbury Centre explores the link between drugs and creativity. It unveils the sacred, the destructive, and the personal stories behind substances across the globe. Each artist, influenced by their region and society, brings a unique view to the exhibition. They explore the cultural, spiritual, and societal roles of various psychoactive substances.

These plants, ranging from tobacco and peyote to kava and ayahuasca, have long been integral to rituals, healing practices, and spiritual journeys in different parts of the world. Whilst synthetic substances just as much have been associated with partying freedom and rule breaking.

Pipe, late 19th to early 20th Century, Kongo or Yombe

For example, Celia Vasquez Yui, a Shipibo-Conibo artist from Peru, brings Amazonian spiritual practices to life through her works. Specifically, her depiction of the anteater, a sacred creature in her culture, symbolizes the spiritual connection between the Shipibo people and the animals they encounter during Ayahuasca ceremonies. This animal, often seen in visions, serves as a bridge between the physical and spiritual realms. Vasquez Yui’s art offers a profound glimpse into the mystical experience of Ayahuasca, providing a visual narrative of indigenous wisdom.

Celia Vasquez Yui, Anteater (Oso Hormiguero), 2020.

In a similar exploration of spiritual depth, Chris Dyer’s Bullish (2022) reflects the vibrancy and complexity of psychedelic journeys. Dyer, known for his bold colours and detailed patterns, draws from his Peruvian heritage and personal Ayahuasca experiences. His work captures the kaleidoscopic visions and spiritual revelations often encountered during Ayahuasca ceremonies, brewed into a tea by trained shamans, representing the interconnectedness of life, transformation, and the cosmic journey of the self.

Chris Dyer, Bullish

Artists like Sethembile Msezane (South Africa), Guadalupe Muñoz (Mexico), and Divine Southgate-Smith (Togolese-British) explore the spiritual and communal significance of plant-based intoxicants such as Peyote, Tobacco, Betel nut, and Kava. Their works, which include sculpture, yarn paintings, and textiles, go beyond representation. These pieces symbolize how these plants are used in ceremonies to foster community, connect with ancestors, or invoke spiritual insights.

Msezane’s South African heritage, where plants are key in communicating with ancestors and healing, shapes her sculptures. Her work explores the link between plants and spiritual growth. It focuses on how tobacco and other intoxicants act as both physical substances and metaphysical conduits. By blending these traditions into modern art, she connects the spiritual power of plants to current issues of use and regulation

Guadalupe Muñoz, for instance, draws from Mexican traditions of Peyote use. Specifically, her art reflects how this hallucinogen is used in Native American ceremonies to foster personal insight and collective healing. Moreover, Muñoz’s yarn paintings and textiles reflect the vivid, mystical experiences peyote triggers. They also echo the colorful, geometric patterns found in Indigenous ceremonies. As a result, her work effectively blurs the line between visual art and spiritual symbolism.

Guadalupe Munoz, Shaman’s dreams

Divine Southgate-Smith, a Togolese-British artist born in 1995, explores the intersection of black, queer, and female experiences through her trans-disciplinary practice. Raised between Paris and London, she studied at the Royal Academy of Arts in London from 2019 to 2023. Southgate-Smith’s work spans various mediums, including film, text, spoken word, performance, sound, installation, sculpture, furniture design, and 3D rendering.

Her art explores complex narratives. It questions traditional links between sight and understanding. The themes include stereotyping, oppression, societal position, and empowerment. She navigates abstract and hypothetical spaces, revealing or concealing aspects of identity and experience. Rooted in research, her practice draws inspiration from literature, music, intersectional discourse, and archival material, allowing her to create works that challenge visual representation and power structures in contemporary art.

Ceremonial objects, such as the Priest’s yaqona dish in duck form, further reveal how substances like kava are used to create a sense of community and foster spiritual growth. The duck-shaped dish, an essential part of Fijian kava ceremonies (a mildly sedative drink made from the Yaqona plant), represents the importance of ritual objects in the preparation and consumption of substances, elevating them beyond their physical properties to a spiritual level.

Priest’s yaqona dish in duck form. Photo. James Austin

The exhibition features a green tea ceremony curated by Mr.Yasuhiro Yamaguchi, a Urasenke School tea practitioner. Although green tea isn’t as potent as Peyote or Kava, it holds deep cultural and spiritual significance in Japan. The act of preparing and drinking tea is meditative, helping practitioners connect with the present moment. As a result, this ritual offers a calm and serene contrast to the stronger hallucinogens found elsewhere in the exhibition.

Additionally, the tea ceremony is a form of art, with every movement choreographed for balance and harmony. Yamaguchi’s role is not just to present a tradition but to show tea as a “mild drug” that encourages mindfulness, reflection, and connection. Therefore, the exhibition juxtaposes the intensity of peyote or ayahuasca with the quiet, grounding nature of green tea. This highlights how different cultures use various substances to elevate the human experience.

On the other hand, artists like Lindokuhle Sobekwa (South Africa) and Graham MacIndoe (Scotland/U.S.) take a raw approach to depicting drug addiction. Sobekwa’s work, for example, reveals the devastating impact of nyaope (a cheap heroin) in South African townships. His art shows how addiction destroys communities already struggling with economic hardship.

Lindokuhle Sobekwa

His photography is more than art; it reflects the social, political, and economic factors driving drug use and abuse in marginalized areas. Additionally, Sobekwa’s gritty portrayal of township life invites viewers to confront the harsh realities of addiction. His work shows how substances, once used for spiritual or communal purposes, can become destructive when misused.

My Addiction, Graham MacIndoe

Graham MacIndoe takes a deeply personal approach, using his own life as the subject of his art. His work chronicles his struggle with heroin addiction in the U.S., using self-portraits to document the rituals and challenges. By photographing himself during drug use, MacIndoe invites the viewer to engage with addiction in a raw, unfiltered, and intimate way. His art closes the gap between artist and subject, making drug use stark and immediate. This personal lens is bold, turning the camera inward to reflect the emotional and physical toll drugs take on a person’s life.

Lindsey Mendick, a British artist, approaches drug use from a psychological and emotional perspective. Her sculptures, often darkly humorous and confessional, tackle the stigma around antidepressants and alcohol in Western society. Unlike the plant-based rituals or communal drug use explored by other artists, Mendick’s work is more introspective, focusing on how individuals in Western cultures turn to prescription drugs and alcohol to cope with stress, anxiety, and social pressures.

Lindsey Mendick, Image by John Mackenzie

Her use of ceramics, a traditionally feminine medium, subverts expectations by addressing themes of mental health, addiction, and vulnerability. Mendick’s sculptures often take on anthropomorphic forms, transforming her personal anxieties and fears into physical, tangible objects.This creative expression addresses societal taboos surrounding mental health and drug use. It reflects an individualistic approach to coping with emotional challenges. By blending humor with raw emotion, Mendick’s work invites viewers to consider the complexities of relying on substances for emotional stability. This is especially relevant in a society that stigmatizes such practices.

The artists in this exhibition offer a nuanced approach to the role of drugs in various cultures and personal contexts. They explore not only the spiritual and communal use of substances in Indigenous ceremonies but also, more importantly, the contrasting personal battles with addiction often faced in challenging urban settings. Additionally, their work highlights the complexity of these experiences across different cultural and societal contexts. The exhibition captures the complexity of how drugs shape human experiences. The artists use diverse mediums such as sculpture, photography, textiles, and performance. They invite viewers to reconsider their understanding of intoxicants and stimulants. These substances are not just chemicals; they are cultural and spiritual tools that shape societies worldwide.

If you enjoyed reading Where Art and Drugs Collide, why not read Across Time and Trade: Birth of The Silk Roads Chronicle

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