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Viewing Optional; 2021

This series was painted in response to mandatory ultrasound viewing laws, which exist in a handful to states and require 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. My goal with these paintings was to re-imagine the concept ultrasound viewing associated with abortion, such that they might not necessarily be shameful or negative, but open-ended and hopeful, a transformation of anger to freedom. The tension outside the frame suggests the fullness, complexity, and messiness of peoples' lives that exist so much further beyond the confines of a pregnancy alone. Painted in encaustic, oil paint, and cold wax medium, I was interested in surface, depth, and luminosity, as well as  the physical process of building and shedding layers of color and wax to obscure and reveal light, anger, and hope. 

Viewing Optional: Text
Viewing Optional: Projects
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