Abortion as art

[Dante]

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.

 

yaledailynews

 

Fucking sick thing to do as art!

[Wesley]

Art is so ugly.

[DomJcg]

Thats just, so sick, and urrgh

[Raining_again]

I don't think there's anyone on this forum that would agree to that being good :/

 

Pretty sick IMO... and i'm openminded o_o

 

edit: What the fuck damage are you doing to your body aborting babies every month o_o It's incredibly bad for a woman's body once...not to mention many times. She wouldn't need to want children later on, she'll have problems conceiving :/

[MoogleViper]

That's not art. That's just sick. If she wants blood that much then she should cut herself. Don't get it from numerous other organisms.

[Strider]

Thats the problem with "art" these days, they don't know where art ends and stupidity begins.

[Raining_again]

That's not art. That's just sick. If she wants blood that much then she should cut herself. Don't get it from numerous other organisms.

 

Or use period blood... it's in essence the same thing (minus dead child).

 

 

Urgh i can't believe I just said that....

[MoogleViper]

Thats the problem with "art" these days, they don't know where art ends and stupidity begins.

 

It start stupidity creeps in a little way after paintings and statues.

 

Or use period blood... it's in essence the same thing (minus dead child).

 

 

Urgh i can't believe I just said that....

 

I was about to say it.

[Tellyn]

Thousands/millions of other women have trouble conceiving and have suffered tragedies in having lost children, and this bitch is purposely killing her children as a hobby.

[Razz]

Ok, that is just plain sick. I really can't think of ANYTHING that could justify this. Free speech and what have you, I'm really down with that, but this, makes me question my beliefs on the whole idea now.

[Raining_again]

I read an article on those abortion pills and you take one then take a second the day after or something, which then brings on an abortion straight away. Its supposed to be incredibly painful (well i suppose having most of your womb flushed away would be, no?)

 

Just ew. Abortion isn't something I'm fully against, but it should be for last option, and the lady in question should be given counselling before it happens.

 

Its not like a friggin' vitamin pill >_>

[nightwolf]

Weirdly enough I'm not that bothered by it, though anything rarely does these days.

 

You are pretty right there raining, abortion is a nasty process (no I've not had one, I did alot of reading, I get incredibly paranoid!).

 

It's similar to miscarriage apprently, which is like having the worst period you could imagine...

 

>.<

[Razz]

I'm fine with abortion, but only when it's necessary. This was just so she could make a "piece of art". Sorry, but it's not art, it's fucking sickening.

[Charlie]

This is sick, shocking and disgusting and almost any other negative word you can think of.

 

Cannot believe she would do something like that "in the name of art".

 

Sick, sick, sick woman.

[EchoDesiato]

What a ****. Killing an unborn child just to get some attention from the media. I really hope she won't just get away with this.

 

I'm not against abortion when there really isn't another choice, but abortion for amusement is outright disgusting.

[Oxigen_Waste]

Or use period blood... it's in essence the same thing (minus dead child).

 

 

Urgh i can't believe I just said that....

 

But that's too mainstream, using menstruation as art is something that's already been done over a million time. She's looking for a shocker.

 

I don't really care what she does.

[Jonnas]

Fuck people like her.

 

As if abortion videos were art. Seriously, that's disgusting.

This is a good example of why excess of freedom in the hand of idiots can easily be a lot of bad things.

 

Hopefully, psychiatrists can talk her out of this. Or maybe she'll quit after the first time.

[Daft]

Finally, someone I would condone stoning to death.

[Letty]

I'd quite like to see it honestly.

 

Its difficult to define art, I'm not too sure on this, but as they say 'art is in the eye of the beholder.'

[Jonnas]

I'd quite like to see it honestly.

 

Its difficult to define art, I'm not too sure on this, but as they say 'art is in the eye of the beholder.'

 

This is not art. It sounds more like videos made for educative purposes. Either made to raise new doctors, or to show women what an abortion truly means.

[Oxigen_Waste]

I'd most definitely love to see it, that's not the point. Art is supposed to have a meaning, a message. I can't exactly capture the message she may be trying to send, if indeed there is one. Honestly, I think she's just wants attention.

[Gizmo]

What a fucking idiot.

 

I'm all for abortion as an option for women, but thats just fucking stupid.

[Cube]

They should abort her.

[Guest Stefkov]

I was expecting to read they'd smeared the remnants of a foetus onto a canvas.

Art is art. Whether you think it's good or bad. This is a good thing.

[Tellyn]

I was expecting to read they'd smeared the remnants of a foetus onto a canvas.

Art is art. Whether you think it's good or bad. This is a good thing.

 

Insert giant "WHAT" gif/jpeg/whatever file extension here.