top of page

Society for Applied

Anthropology Conference

SfAA 2025

In spring 2025, we took our workshops on the road to Portland, Oregon,

to the annual meetings of the Society for Applied Anthropology!

​

We were pleased to host an amazing group of anthropologists who created a zine about harm reduction that contains art and educational resources.

sdaa_2.jpg

We need new ways to resist the War on Drugs that center social justice and compassionately address drug use in our communities. In this hands-on workshop, an anthropologist and a community artist will offer a historical grounding in harm reduction as a grassroots movement and practical set of strategies to address drug-related harms. Based on our shared learning about the subversive role of art in harm reduction education and community organizing, we will engage in our own art-making as a methodology to revitalize the contributions of creativity and collaboration in improving community health. No artistic training is required!

Revitalizing community health through the art of harm reduction.

sdaa_4.jpg
sdaa_5.jpg
sdaa_6.jpg
sdaa_7.jpg
SOM-P7.jpg
yellow-watercolor-1.jpg

Art has taken a central role in the history of harm reduction, offering an important means to share information, demonstrate understanding, express vulnerability and build trust, encourage creative thinking, and connect with one another to build community. Our workshops build on this history to create community among students. 

SOM-P8.jpg
SOM-P4.jpg
SOM-P6.jpg
SOM-P3.jpg
SOM-P5.jpg

Community Care through the Art of Harm Reduction:

An Art Workshop

UCR School of Medicine, May 13, 2026

We hosted a workshop about harm reduction at the UCR School of Medicine, with mostly UCR Masters of Public Health (MPH) students in attendance. The goal was to teach and create art about harm reduction as a practice of community care. MPH student Sarah Zimmerman shared her experiences volunteering at Inland Empire Harm Reduction. Harm reduction as a liberatory practice is relevant to public health because it not only addresses drug use, but recognizes the importance of the social determinants of health and pushes back against stigma and criminalization. 

watercolor-texture-green-6 ED.jpg

The Art of

Harm Reduction

Zine

Yello Stain.png
SOM-P1.jpg
MPH Art Workshop Flyer-May13.jpg
SOM-P2.jpg
bottom of page