The 2022 overturning of Roe v Wade sparked the mass public resurgence of the controversial topic of abortion. A debate over the rights of people with uteruses and their access to reproductive health care. The exhibited body of work Dialogue reflects the social implication of the discussion surrounding abortion. Switching between contemporary and historical visual language reveals a duality in the meaning, concept, and materiality throughout the body of work, interconnecting the physical works themselves but also the past, present, and future of reproductive health care. 

The five works being exhibited are three intaglio prints, a Sculpture installation, and a large-scale drawing. These works each reflect a different perspective surrounding abortion, to exemplify the breadth and complexity of the topic.

First looking at my intaglio prints, each print follows a similar process of aquatint and etching then being framed in acrylic. The print Midwifery addresses the medical perspective surrounding abortion, and the vintage midwife bag in the image highlights tools used in historical and contemporary obstetric practices for surgical abortions.

 Writhing, depicts a figure tossing and thrashing around on a hospital bed to reflect emotional and the physiological pain of an abortion, this work also speaks on the struggles of miscarriage and the overarching emotional turmoil in the country.

 -Termination demonstrates the idea of decision-making. Lawmakers and people alike continuously try to determine what is morally right and wrong when it comes to abortion. And the weight of having to decide on the moral quandary to terminate a pregnancy or not. 

Each work's medium was an intentional choice and speaks poetically to the concept, for my prints I decided to use intaglio for its process. The etching process where chemical acids are used to permanently create images onto copper plates gives the medium a preciousness to the practice which speaks poetically to abortion but also how abortion is etched into our history. 

The Sculpture installation Divided, reflects on the statistical analysis and political divide surrounding abortion in the US, each of the hangers are hand-bent steel rods suspended in space with galvanized wire.  

There are a total of 100 hangers and 1 contemporary abortion tool called a decapitation hook which is a motif also used in midwifery, the tool is a bent polished steel rod with a screwdriver handle welded onto the base to reproduce the look of the tool.

 The audio piece that can only be heard from inside the room is sourced audio from the Cornell multimedia archive of supreme court hearings called Oyez. Each audio sample is from major supreme court hearings discussing topics surrounding abortion from the 1973 case Roe v. Wade to the 2021 case Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. The audio gives insight into the way our government body addresses abortion and the divide on the topic throughout the years. The audio is separated on two channel speakers, where some play from both, and others can be heard only coming from the left or right.  I will now play a small sample of the audio. 

When viewing the installation is accompanied by the drawing Dialogue, which is 4 large panel dura-lar with mixed media suspended in space. The decision to use dura-lar as my main substrate came from its visual qualities of resembling medical plastic products and the similarity in the chemical makeup they can share. When I was working on this drawing I found myself struggling to find the right visual language to capture. My initial instinct was to use abstracted figures as I did in Writhing but as I was working through my test pieces it never felt right, this is where I began to research materials to guide my outcome rather than representational imagery. In my research, I found artists who use dura-lar as their main substrate. They predominantly utilize alcohol-based inks as their medium, never used inks before I began experimenting. The application of the inks became performative in a way, it was therapeutic, and it was a form of my own self-expression on abortion. I explored through my own emotions of grief, fear, and anger how I felt when Roe v Wade was overturned, and then I placed my emotions and reactions in the shoes of those who may have reacted differently. These reactions expressed themselves through different abstract painterly mark-making with ink and mediums. I began gently brushing the ink on with a paintbrush, and drew delicately across horizontally, as it went on the application became more aggressive and violent where I pressed a smaller sheet of dura-lar to spread, and mashing the ink on, and continued by throwing, spraying, and pouring. I diluted the ink using isopropyl (ai-sow-prow-pl) alcohol which would create different varieties of opacities and textures, by reactivating the dry ink underneath and causing it to split, pool, and dilute. 

 When designing and planning this body of work the installation and drawing became very site-specific with being able to view the work from inside and outside its intended space. This emphasizes the division of beliefs on abortion and showcases further duality. 

 Looking from the outside through the glass, the drawing is illuminated by LED lights from the inside of the room which casts shadows onto the dura-lar. This is a metaphor for shedding light on the topic at hand. The silhouettes of the hangers imply a looming presence of what's next for abortion laws in the US as they are only visible from the outside of the space and separated by the glass walls.  The physical separation between the rest of the gallery and the room is another indicator of the division of beliefs.

 From the inside of the room, the viewers are guided to sit on the bench to listen to the audio and ponder the work from all perspectives. 

The position of the bench causes the viewers to sit together and view the work equally no matter their individual beliefs. This fosters an environment of common ground between the viewers together in the room and the work to all deeply learn and listen to one another. 

The materiality of the works is again something important to note: the glass, acrylic, dura-lar, decapitation hook, and galvanized wire are intended to contrast the properties of the hangers to signify unsafe and safe abortions. And to further emphasize the switching between contemporary and historical perspectives. 

The inspiration for the blues used in the body of work came from tampon commercials where they use blue liquid instead of red for censorship, this is to address the persistent stigmas and taboos placed on topics surrounding all reproductive healthcare. The specific blue I've used throughout the work is Prussian blue for its symbolism associated with death.    

All the intricacies throughout the body of work, establish connection and bring awareness to a multitude of perspectives in hopes that more effective dialogues can guide us as a modern society to better solutions and common ground that abandons taboo ideals. Because abortion has existed throughout history in a variety of cultures and practices and it will continue to be a part of the human experience.