Group Lead: Giselle

Title of Piece: Hard To Swallow Pills

Name(s): Giselle Garcia, Ivanna Martinez, Diego Ortiz, Alina Sanchez, Ernesto
Ochoa

Size: 4’ x 2’ x 4’

Materials: Piñata, Pills, Pill Bottles

Explanation of work:
There has recently been an epidemic of mental illnesses in the United States
among adolescents. The five topics this art piece focuses on are teen drug use,
parental separation, borderline personality disorder, sibling abuse, and health
care. A pill bottle shaped piñata can be quickly filled with substances and easily
broken, just like teenagers. The broken piñata is a further representation of the
stigma towards the mental health of an adolescent. Socially they are still weak,
broken and helpless. We invite the audience to pick up the pills and deposit them
into the pill bottle that best applies to the mental health challenges that you or
someone you know has experienced. We aim to visualize the invisible by physically
representing mental health and advocating for awareness of teen brain health.
How are you affected by these topics?