Sonograms, self-determined; 2021-2025

My work explores self-determination through imagery related to pregnancy, power, and the monstrous feminine. Abstractions of sonograms force a new interpretation of their expanded meaning and the socially constructed assumptions of pregnancy and bodily autonomy. Who are we when we're allowed to be more than a vessel, when we can acknowledge the full complexity of pregnancy? What is possible when we're free to achieve the reproductive futures we want for ourselves, and when we can't?

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This series was originally started in response to mandatory ultrasound viewing laws, which force abortion providers to show and/or describe the ultrasound image to the person having an abortion, even if they do not want to see it. There is no medical rationale for these laws; they exist solely to shame and discourage abortion seekers. While they a relatively ineffective at restricting access to abortion, they are emblematic of oppressive ideology behind them: that women and pregnant people cannot be trusted to make their own decisions. As restrictive and punitive abortion laws have proliferated since the Dobbs decision in 2022, this series has continued in response to the collective rage and despair over the ongoing loss of our reproductive freedoms. Here, the imagery is not narrow, shameful, or negative; nor does it lead to one, singular conclusion about the pregnancy or the pregnant person. Instead, it is open-ended and hopeful, full of light and color; fungi and organic material reflect the process of continual change and interconnectedness, and the grotesque and complex nature of being embodied. They spill over their frames, reminding us of the fullness of pregnant people's lives. Eventually transitioning from 2D to 3D and becoming more maximalist over time, these works reflect the expansion of my own imagination of what is possible when we're not limited by oppressive regimes that demand conformity to their self-imposed authoritarian rules. 

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