DENYLIUM

“[Racism] is a profound neurosis that nobody examines for what it is… it has just as much of a deleterious effect on white people… that is does on black people.” –Toni Morrison  

For my MFA thesis at MICA I explored how America’s profit-driven and reactionary health-care system might treat those harboring the illness of racism. This hoax: a pharmaceutical company, Miraciprol has released a drug Denylium, that manages the symptoms of Chronic Racial Anxiety Syndrome 

(CRAS) in white people.

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Along with the imagined pharmaceutical company and drugs I created a full brand identity and marketing strategy, including logo, print marketing materials, product line and website. I performed this installation as a pharmaceutical representative and attempted to sell the (placebo) drug.

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Conceptually, the intention was to engage white 

people in acknowledging the notion that there are consequences for participating in systems of power that oppress others, and to take responsibility for this endemic “disease” that affects us all. Denylium addresses the irony that individuals might only engage in anti-racism if there is a direct benefit for them, like... clear skin.