Jeanne Susplugas' work (Montpellier 1974) is concentrated around medicine and medicines. A biographical note informs that the French artist is the daughter of a pharmacist and for two generations her family have been physicists, doctors and researchers. She first became interested in this world as a child and a long illness caused by poisoning increased her curiosity. Here one can see the shiny plastic blisters of pills re-proposed like the Une Solution series, of different shaped and coloured tablets, Doses Hebdomadaires, of medicines for children's heroes, Offrandes (Lara
Croft shoots Lexomil, Barbie vitamins and Bugs Bunny Viagra). The object I its almost chemical substance is the protagonist : white, red, yellow or green tablets, pills which break through the aluminium sheet so as to be swallowed, glass phials, jars of aspirin and anti-inflammatory formulas spied on in people's bags (Ouvrez votre sac). "The shape and colour of the pills varies from one country to another. In the United States they're much more colourful, they look like sweets: harmless little things to swallow"
says Susplugas. When she was a girl she played with microscopes. In the photos a "microscope" perspective is evident. Not just because of the subject studied by the eye but also for the formal solution of hyper objectivity. The power of such a perspective is its ability not to transcend the object but to celebrate the thought and concept. What can a two-coloured capsule containing a medicinal powder turn itself into (Mystere)? Into an aesthetic object which must be taken seriously both scientifically and
sentimentally. What are medicines for contemporary society? The recent packets of medicine of all types. The boxes are empty but Susplugas tells us that the place is still sick. Could it not be just a statement of widespread hypochondria!