Sharona Franklin. Drosophila Clock X. 2021. Silver, brass, aluminum, mixed metal, expired pharmaceuticals, wood, foraged bone, antler, photographs, enamel. 19.75×19.75 inches.

Sharona Franklin’s Drosophila Clock X replaces numbers with necessity; it is a measure for counting out medicine and memorializing a daily ritual of survival. Its eight stationary arms of silver are composed of decorative spoons (and one fork), each holding a pill or two. Each utensil is adorned with an enamel photograph of one of Franklin’s syringes, a delicate inscription of pharmaceutical care taking on the visual language of a family heirloom. In a 2021 Arthritis Society Canada interview with the artist and disability rights advocate, Franklin speaks to the language-defiant experience of pre-diagnosed illness: “As kids with arthritis, we develop with no verbal language for our experiences, and often few role models. There is no well-laid-out path to follow. We are still learning and growing while battling illness.” Growing up ill and housing insecure, Franklin’s found-object assemblages at the center of her practice began as escapist coping mechanisms made in the company of her siblings.