Abortion Art (No Pics)

[NinjaGeek]

http://yaledailynews.com/articles/view/24513

For senior, abortion a medium for art, political discourse
Martine Powers
Staff Reporter
Published Thursday, April 17, 2008

Art major Aliza Shvarts '08 wants to make a statement.

Beginning next Tuesday, Shvarts will be displaying her senior art project, a documentation of a nine-month process during which she artificially inseminated herself "as often as possible" while periodically taking abortifacient drugs to induce miscarriages. Her exhibition will feature video recordings of these forced miscarriages as well as preserved collections of the blood from the process.

The goal in creating the art exhibition, Shvarts said, was to spark conversation and debate on the relationship between art and the human body. But her project has already provoked more than just debate, inciting, for instance, outcry at a forum for fellow senior art majors held last week. And when told about Shvarts' project, students on both ends of the abortion debate have expressed shock . saying the project does everything from violate moral code to trivialize abortion.

But Shvarts insists her concept was not designed for "shock value."

"I hope it inspires some sort of discourse," Shvarts said. "Sure, some people will be upset with the message and will not agree with it, but it's not the intention of the piece to scandalize anyone."

The "fabricators," or donors, of the sperm were not paid for their services, but Shvarts required them to periodically take tests for sexually transmitted diseases. She said she was not concerned about any medical effects the forced miscarriages may have had on her body. The abortifacient drugs she took were legal and herbal, she said, and she did not feel the need to consult a doctor about her repeated miscarriages.

Shvarts declined to specify the number of sperm donors she used, as well as the number of times she inseminated herself.

Art major Juan Castillo '08 said that although he was intrigued by the creativity and beauty of her senior project, not everyone was as thrilled as he was by the concept and the means by which she attained the result.

"I really loved the idea of this project, but a lot other people didn't," Castillo said. "I think that most people were very resistant to thinking about what the project was really about. [The senior-art-project forum] stopped being a conversation on the work itself."

Although Shvarts said she does not remember the class being quite as hostile as Castillo described, she said she believes it is the nature of her piece to "provoke inquiry."

"I believe strongly that art should be a medium for politics and ideologies, not just a commodity," Shvarts said. "I think that I'm creating a project that lives up to the standard of what art is supposed to be."

The display of Schvarts' project will feature a large cube suspended from the ceiling of a room in the gallery of Green Hall. Schvarts will wrap hundreds of feet of plastic sheeting around this cube; lined between layers of the sheeting will be the blood from Schvarts' self-induced miscarriages mixed with Vaseline in order to prevent the blood from drying and to extend the blood throughout the plastic sheeting.

Schvarts will then project recorded videos onto the four sides of the cube. These videos, captured on a VHS camcorder, will show her experiencing miscarriages in her bathrooom tub, she said. Similar videos will be projected onto the walls of the room.

School of Art lecturer Pia Lindman, Schvarts' senior-project advisor, could not be reached for comment Wednesday night.

Few people outside of Yale's undergraduate art department have heard about Shvarts' exhibition. Members of two campus abortion-activist groups . Choose Life at Yale, a pro-life group, and the Reproductive Rights Action League of Yale, a pro-choice group . said they were not previously aware of Schvarts' project.

Alice Buttrick '10, an officer of RALY, said the group was in no way involved with the art exhibition and had no official opinion on the matter.

Sara Rahman '09 said, in her opinion, Shvarts is abusing her constitutional right to do what she chooses with her body.

"[Shvarts' exhibit] turns what is a serious decision for women into an absurdism," Rahman said. "It discounts the gravity of the situation that is abortion."

CLAY member Jonathan Serrato '09 said he does not think CLAY has an official response to Schvarts' exhibition. But personally, Serrato said he found the concept of the senior art project "surprising" and unethical.

"I feel that she's manipulating life for the benefit of her art, and I definitely don't support it," Serrato said. "I think it's morally wrong."

Shvarts emphasized that she is not ashamed of her exhibition, and she has become increasingly comfortable discussing her miscarriage experiences with her peers.

"It was a private and personal endeavor, but also a transparent one for the most part," Shvarts said. "This isn't something I've been hiding."

The official reception for the Undergraduate Senior Art Show will be from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. on April 25. The exhibition will be on public display from April 22 to May 1. The art exhibition is set to premiere alongside the projects of other art seniors this Tuesday, April 22 at the gallery of Holcombe T. Green Jr. Hall on Chapel Street.

 

[The Ozzman]

Useless without pics

I already read about this on the 'Deth forums

 

[waif]

That honestly sounds kinda cool. Really, really weird and out there, but cool.

 

[unknown]

andddd here's the followup
http://www.yale.edu/opa/

New Haven, Conn. — April 17, 2008

Ms. Shvarts is engaged in performance art. Her art project includes visual representations, a press release and other narrative materials. She stated to three senior Yale University officials today, including two deans, that she did not impregnate herself and that she did not induce any miscarriages. The entire project is an art piece, a creative fiction designed to draw attention to the ambiguity surrounding form and function of a woman’s body.

She is an artist and has the right to express herself through performance art.

Had these acts been real, they would have violated basic ethical standards and raised serious mental and physical health concerns.

 

[cookiecutter]

I think the word "abortifacient" sounds cool

 

[NinjaGeek]

Awww that just ruined my day

 

[waif]

andddd here's the followup
http://www.yale.edu/opa/

Now it's even cooler.

I think the word "abortifacient" sounds cool

Good name for a BDM band.

 

[Psychonaut]

Of course the insemination was artificial. Who would fuck this psycho?

Edit: Damn. A ruse. She got me. I'd fuck her.

 

[waif]

There's no pictures, but I probably would been happy to contribute to her art.

 

[V.V.V.V.V.]

I have no reason to believe she's not bluffing especially since she only stated that after people got angry(?).

 

[skeptik]

Why the hell would she have said that in the first place? If she did actually induce multiple miscarriages, then that is highly, highly irresponsible, nigh loathsome, and people should ignore her. I hope for her sake that it was a statement designed for shock value.

 

[zabu of nΩd]

Agreed.

For the sake of discussing the issue, I would say that any right women have to an abortion comes with the expectation that they take abortion seriously (i.e. not for the hell of it), and do whatever they can to prevent the pregnancy in the first place.

Any legal jurisdiction which allows abortion should probably make exception for cases of clear negligence, in which case I guess one would be charged with something equivalent to manslaughter.

 

[The Butt]

Bitch needs a good stab in the face

 

[The Ozzman]

lol at a charge of manslaughter for a potential human

 

[zabu of nΩd]

You have a better suggestion?

The idea behind my comment was to find a compromise between a murder charge (which seems pretty absurd for an unborn fetus) and no charge at all (which we want to avoid because we still see wanton abortion as wrong).

 

[The Ozzman]

If anything, maybe criminally negligent homicide?

Anyway, this is just a hoax:

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D904AFH80&show_article=1

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) - A Yale University art student's claim that she induced repeated abortions on herself and used the blood for her senior project is false, school officials said after her account was published in the student newspaper.

Aliza Shvarts described the project in a story Thursday in the Yale Daily News. She said she artificially inseminated herself "as often as possible" while taking herbal drugs to induce miscarriages, the story said.

The account swept across blogs and media outlets before Yale issued a statement saying it investigated and found it all to be a hoax that was Shvarts' idea of elaborate "performance art."

"The entire project is an art piece, a creative fiction designed to draw attention to the ambiguity surrounding form and function of a woman's body," said Yale spokeswoman Helaine Klasky.

But in a guest column published in Friday's student newspaper, Shvarts insisted the project was real. She described her "repeated self- induced miscarriages," although she allows that she never knew if she was actually pregnant.

"The most poignant aspect of this representation—the part most meaningful in terms of its political agenda (and, incidentally, the aspect that has not been discussed thus far)—is the impossibility of accurately identifying the resulting blood," she said.

"Because the miscarriages coincide with the expected date of menstruation (the 28th day of my cycle), it remains ambiguous whether ... there was ever a fertilized ovum or not. The reality of the pregnancy, both for myself and for the audience, is a matter of reading," she wrote.

Shvarts told the newspaper she planned to display a work that consisted of a cube lined with plastic sheets with a blood-and- petroleum-jelly mixture in between, onto which she would project video footage of herself "experiencing miscarriages in her bathroom tub."

University officials said Shvarts' project included visual representations, a news release and other narrative materials. When confronted by three senior Yale officials, including two deans, Shvarts acknowledged that she was never pregnant and did not induce abortions, Klasky said.

"She said if Yale puts out a statement saying she did not do this, she would say Yale was doing that to protect its reputation," Klasky said.

Shvarts told the paper her goal was to spark conversation and debate on the relationship between art and the human body.

Cullen MacBeth, the newspaper's managing editor, declined to comment Thursday. Editor-in-Chief Andrew Mangino could not be reached for comment Friday because his cell phone was not taking messages and he did not immediately reply to an e-mail message from The Associated Press.

Shvarts could not be reached for comment. Her telephone number was disconnected and she did not respond to e-mails or a knock on the door at the address listed for her in the campus directory.

Groups for and against abortion rights expressed outrage over the affair.

Ted Miller, a spokesman for NARAL Pro-Choice America, called the concept offensive and "not a constructive addition to the debate over reproductive rights."

Peter Wolfgang, executive director of the Family Institute of Connecticut, an anti-abortion group, said his anger was not mitigated by the fact that Shvarts may never not have been pregnant. "I'm astounded by this woman's callousness," he said.

 

[Melodeath]

Why are people still talking as if this is real? Didn't they read the second article?

I loled when I read the idea. I can't imagine how dead she'd be if she really did have repeated miscarriages. And I mean her body, not "oh people would be so mad they'd kill her"

 

[waif]

For the sake of discussing the issue, I would say that any right women have to an abortion comes with the expectation that they take abortion seriously (i.e. not for the hell of it), and do whatever they can to prevent the pregnancy in the first place.

Any legal jurisdiction which allows abortion should probably make exception for cases of clear negligence, in which case I guess one would be charged with something equivalent to manslaughter.

I was going to say this, but then I realized that you said it. So I award you a gold dot.
.

I loled when I read the idea. I can't imagine how dead she'd be if she really did have repeated miscarriages. And I mean her body, not "oh people would be so mad they'd kill her"

I don't think it would kill her, but it could easily fuck up her ability to have children later in life.