Freyja Catton | The Apathecary

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Freyja Catton, “he Apathecary (detail),” 2023

4/9, set of 10 glass bottles (courtesy of the artist)

Opening Reception for Members and Guests: Friday January 10^th, 7 -10 pm

Freyja Catton’s exhibition The Apathecary is an assemblage of whimsically existential glass bottles and drawings with negative emotions on the labels. In production over the course of a decade, this series is inspired by label designs from the vintage “snake oil” elixirs from 1850-1920, Alice In Wonderland, gallows humour, and the concept of laughter as medicine.

As Freyja says: “… I liked the wordplay between ‘apothecary’ and ‘apathy’, and I thought it would be funny to have bottles of ‘Regret’ and ‘Anxiety’ and ‘Ennui’.”  The bottles vary in size and shape, and the wordplay of the labels combined with the absence of physical material inside makes it ambiguous whether the bottles are intended to contain these “bottled emotions”, or to provide the remedy for them.

Designs for The Apathecary are drawn by hand by the artist and digitally edited before getting screen-printed in limited edition batches and affixed to glass bottles.

The aesthetic references medicine from 100+ years ago. While medical knowledge and standards of care have improved significantly since the snake oil days, our relationship with medicine has become deeply politicized. Demand remains high as ever, but access to medical care is limited due to an aggravating myriad of funding and finance issues and the willful obstinance of decision makers. We live in an age where information passes quickly but isn’t necessarily accurate, and information literacy has gotten harder and harder to keep up with. Isolation and a culture of hyper-independence makes it extra difficult to navigate existence. Humour plays a crucial role in diffusing tension and encouraging community and support across social demographics.