Sadie Hennessy – Talisman (Valium Bottle)

In my late 20s I began suffering from terrifying panic attacks, for which I was prescribed Diazepam (aka Valium). I found that as long as I had the bottle of pills with me, I wouldn’t get the panic attacks, so I got into the habit of carrying the bottle around with me as a precautionary measure. Years passed and life became kinder and the pills stayed in my dressing table drawer. 30 years later, in 2025, I have had the pill bottle cast in solid bronze, picking up the familiar detail of its its ragged paper label and childproof lid, to memorialise the talismanic power of the original pill bottle. The big idea here is the power of the mind.