Paolo Woods focuses on the promises of the planetary pill industry

What are we looking for when we take a pill? What is our relation to drugs and medicines? These questions are asked by photographer Paolo Woods and writer Arnaud Robert in their "Happy Pills" project, a 5-year investigation documenting the relationship between consumers and the pharmaceutical industry.

Arnaud and Candelita Brunel with their medication. Mr. Brunel owns a company that makes luxury garden furniture, and also has a fine collection of photos. The picture is from the "Home Pharma" series by Gabriele Galimberti who asked families around the world to display the pharmaceuticals they keep at home. Lausanne, Switzerland. © Paolo Woods & Gabriele Galimberti

To document their "Happy Pills" series, Paolo Woods and Arnaud Robert met consumers in eight countries: the United States, Switzerland, Niger, Israel, Peru, Portugal, India and Italy.

They asked people to open their medicine cabinets to see what kind of products could be found.

"The more we went on investigating the subject the more we realised what really interested us was the pills we take to go beyond our limits as humans," Woods told RFI.

Pills today have a very big place in our life, just as before there were religions or philosophy, they promise to make us feel better, he explains.

The project takes the form of a book published by Delpire and also a film to be released in November 2022.

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"Happy Pills" was on display at Visa pour l'image in Perpignan until 11 September and is in Paris' La Villette from 17 to 30 September, 2022.