Vulnerable States

This chapter examines how addiction is represented in popular culture and how such portrayals shape public perceptions, policy, and the lived experiences of those in recovery. It argues that media and artistic depictions of the “addict” have become deeply embedded in cultural consciousness, functioning as invisible frameworks that define how addiction is understood and governed. By interrogating these narratives, the chapter calls for a more complex understanding that reflects the nonlinear realities of lived experience. Through case studies including People, Places and Things (Macmillan, 2018), The Political History of Smack and Crack ( Edwards, 2018 ), Melanie Manchot’s (2023) film STEPHEN , and the exhibition HOOKED (London Science Gallery, 2018–2019) the chapter demonstrates how contemporary artistic practices disrupt stigmatizing discourses and offer new ways of seeing addiction and recovery. Tracing the historical evolution of the concept of addiction, from its earlier associations with devotion to its modern pathologization, the chapter proposes a rethinking of addiction as a cultural condition that mirrors societal values, contradictions, and vulnerabilities.