The Power of a Spoon

Julia Forest

Copy Editor/Writer

In June of 2018, Domenic Esposito dropped a 10-foot long and 800-pound spoon in front of Purdue Pharma to bring awareness to the opioid epidemic. “It was really kind of born out of frustration, anger towards the pharmaceutical industry, and really kind of the government as well, and sort of this inaction that I was seeing around the opioid crisis. More directly, more personally, is because of a family member, my brother, who’s been battling substance use disorder for the last 18 years,” Esposito said.

On February 11th, Domenic Esposito presented a lecture titled, Amplifying Your Voice with Art, to a full audience in La Maison Salon. He is most well-known for the Opioid Spoon Project and connecting art with activism.

At the beginning of the lecture, Esposito explained that art has the power to create change. “I think a lot of art is really activism because art is really a language the way I see it and it’s a way for us to communicate…It provokes thoughts, it stirs emotions, it inspires action, but it also amplifies voices and the voices of those who are voiceless,” he said.

Esposito was influenced to create the spoon due to his brother’s addiction. “My mom would call screaming, you know, she’d found another burnt spoon in the house, so that’s why the spoon.”

“I personally like the spoon because there’s a utility to it. It feeds you, and this is not feeding you, it’s killing you,” he added.

Four different Spoons were placed in front of four major pharmaceutical companies, including Purdue, the FDA, Rhodes Pharmaceutical, and Johnson and Johnson. At each location, the spoon’s handle had the specific company’s name printed on it. “It became national news, and it really kind of gave us this impetus to continue the battle with others.”

Esposito considers the spoon to be an example of disruptive art and activism.  “It creates this energy around the art…It’s breaking down boundaries of traditional art and how we think about it. It creates dialogue because when you drop something like this in front of a pharmaceutical company, it creates, rather than reading a book or watching a long movie on it, it’s like a really quick snapshot, and it creates this dialogue in people’s head, and we get a lot of questions about it,” Esposito said.

The spoon also became a meaningful symbol among those who were affected by the crisis. Families, communities, and organizations began reaching out to Esposito and his team. As a result, Esposito created a blank spoon and took it to a rally in Marlborough. “A couple of hundred families were there and we allowed people to sign the names of their family members that they lost with a small message on the spoon. It was sort of overwhelming, and all of a sudden, that got all over Facebook and Instagram, and then we got requests. We ended up going to 15 cities across 11 states in over two months. The spoon was completely filled with names. Every place we went, we worked with the local community, whether it was Rochester or Philadelphia, and they brought their own organizations to that. But what was also amazing is that we were able to participate with a lot of politicians and lawmakers at that point…the reason why we did this is to listen to stories of loss and make sure that their names were memorialized…”

Esposito’s most current project consists of figures wearing hoodies, bringing awareness to mental health and how it is still stigmatized. “It really is a way, in my mind, to bring awareness to isolation, loneliness, and the mental health issues that we’ve been facing for a long time…it’s sort of an offshoot of the opioid crisis because the two are very interlinked, the theme of societal isolation. This has been a whole series for me. I’ve done different variations of it,” he said.

Esposito concluded his lecture by discussing the importance of being a passionate advocate and creating long-term conversations. The messaging is more important than the art. “Art has the potential to inspire action and change…The Opioid Spoon Project, OSP, really is an example of impactful activism, using everything at our disposal to raise awareness. Encourage people to explore your own role as an artist and activist, I assume there’s a lot of artists in the crowd here, and how to better society, really. It’s not just about making yourself feel good but it’s also about trying to make us a better society.”