Haroon Mirza, OxyContin, 2019

2019

Medium

Ginger root electroetching on copper PCB blank, framed

Dimensions

38.5 × 49 cm

Status

In Gallery Collection

Collect24 Art ID

C24-155924

Created by placing organic material on copper boards and conducting electrical currents through them, Haroon Mirza’s electro-etchings fuse together the technoid-digital world with the natural, shamanistic-magical world by utilizing organic material. "I've always been interested in organic matter, material, and organisms because of their chaotic, unpredictable and autonomous nature, and also as a metaphor for other things", the artist stated in an interview for Ocula Magazine. The usage of PCB copper plates (normally used in computers) and drugs from shamanistic rituals can be found in other of his internationally recognized installations, sculptures and video pieces. The work OxyContin is related to the dramatic increase in Oxycodone abuse in the USA and refers to the prescription drug OxyContin, which contains the substance Oxycodone, an opioid which is largely credited to be the source of the opioid crisis in the USA. A sliced ginger root is placed on an electrified PCB copper plate for 6 minutes and reacts with the plate, leaving permanent marks. Other works of the series show the chemical reactions of the San Pedro cactus on the copper surface, other traces of organic material such as garlic flowers are reactively connected to other drugs. For instance, Mirza unites copper plates with Liberty Caps, the most common psychoactive mushroom.