POP PILLS

Project & photographyBaptiste Lignel
Additional photographyJohnny Miller
WebsiteLaure Boutmy

POP PILLS is the result of an extended investigation by French photojournalist Baptiste Lignel on the use of “behavior medication“ by youths in the USA.

This book combines M. Lignel’s photography with elements from popular culture and social media, which bring additional voices to the narrative and broaden its scope.

Over a 6 year period, M. Lignel tracked the progress of nine children with an array of pathologies (anxiety, OCD, depression, and, of course, ADHD) putting their diagnoses and prescriptions into perspective.

Portraits and interviews constitute the heart of the book and allow readers to get a sense of each individual’s journey dealing with his or her mental health challenges.

Some of the children stop taking medication, some take more, some add marijuana to the mix, etc...

Two additionnal chapters take readers to Mississippi and Colorado. In Biloxi, a 7 year old boy struggles with a severe case of ADHD. Four generations of his family live under one roof, united around his pathology despite a dire social context. The Boulder story provides a glimpse of how ADHD medications can be used on a college campus, with and without prescriptions, for academic purposes as well as for entertainment.

This unique project casts an unflinching eye on many facets of an extremely complex topic, all too often simplified and stigmatized by the media.

It is an imaginatively conceived, bright, well photographed and designed book, intelligent and practical, on a subject that appears to be of ever greater importance. I cannot comment on the arguments since I know nothing about them. But I do know Baptiste Lignel to be an author of care, integrity and penetration and I dare say that this book will come to be seen as an authoritative guide.

David Goldblatt

Scroll & see!