Nicotine

Karon Davis reflects on experiences of care and grief through this lifelike sculpture of a nurse or caregiver during a moment of repose. Nicotine—its title a reference to the mood-altering substance contained in the cigarette in the figure’s hand—was originally installed in a gallery that re-created the space of a hospital waiting room, a place in which the occupants experience time, hope, connection, and loss in acute ways. The tattered figure embodies the weight of healthcare work and expresses how people cope and rest when confronted with illness.