And you may ask yourself, “how did I get here?”
In Dear Ethanol, Kerry Payne Stailey creates a world inspired by true accounts of a life altered by alcohol. It is a tale of descent and redemption. Hers included. Her muses offer wisdom, honesty and courage, sharing tiny beautiful truths as they resurrect their lives, alcohol-free. Working with miniatures, Kerry reimagines and illustrates their confessions, and hers. One image a day. One day at a time.
A posthumous tribute to the artist’s father who battled addiction to alcohol and died by suicide, this ode to the bitter taste of ethanol is also is a response to ‘big alcohol’; the producers, distributers and marketers who knowingly promote their deadly product as an essential part of an adventurous, glamorous life, and in some cases, even as ‘healthy’ and ‘safe’.
In an era in which people are told they should enjoy drinking, but not become addicted to it, despite the fact that it is highly addictive, it seems alcohol is the only drug in the world where somebody is seen as diseased if they ‘opt out’.
The substance is celebrated. Those who get sick from using it are stigmatized.
Worldwide, alcohol misuse syndrome (AUD) is rising. 3 million deaths every year result from harmful use of alcohol, representing 5.9% of all deaths. Binge drinking, especially among women, increased significantly during the Covid-19 pandemic with research finding heavy drinking among women rose 41%. Alcohol is a known group 1 carcinogen. The harmful use of alcohol is a causal factor in more than 200 disease and injury conditions. In 2018, illegal drug overdoses killed about 18,000 people in the US, while drinking too much alcohol killed 95,000. Alcohol use is present in one quarter of all suicides.
Yet alcohol is legal. Alcohol is everywhere. Alcohol is idolized. And alcohol is killing us by the millions.
“Inspired by the virtual recovery communities I discovered when I stopped drinking, Dear Ethanol is my salute to all who choose sobriety over intoxication in an era when alcohol is worshipped. I chose to represent these scenes in technicolor deliberately. Enough darkness, enough shadows. These days feel bright and happy, shiny and new. I hope these images land in a way that helps others reclaim their joy, one confession, one connection at a time. ”
