Female Repeatedly Aborts For Art Project

[cmotherofpirl]

For senior, abortion a medium for art, political discourse
YALE DAILY NEWS
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.

[prose]

Holy...

Oh...

This makes me want to cry.

[Archaeology cat]

I second Prose. I'm at a loss to describe how I feel about this.

[cmotherofpirl]

Agreed. Abomination is the only word that comes to mind, and flashes of hellfire of Dante's inferno.

[Archaeology cat]

Yeah, that's about the only word I can think of. I just told my husband about this and he, too, was speechless.

I'm sure Kieran is now wondering why I'm holding on to him even tighter.

Edited April 17, 2008 by Archaeology cat

[Didacus]

Taking abortion from the norm to the mundane.

God have mercy.

[Lena]

I can't think of anything to say either, except that's just completely wrong and disgusting on every level....I've always thought of art as a [i]celebration[/i] of life, which is the opposite of what she's doing.

[kujo]

I am disgusted....terrible....

[Thy Geekdom Come]

May she realize what she did and be healed by God's grace.

What an atrocity.

[goldbug16]

There's nothing really one can say in this situation, but what an disgusting atrocity. Lord have mercy.

[CrossCuT]

[size=1]Wow.
This brings abortion to an appalling new level.

Im so mad...soooo mad.......I dont even know what to say!!!!!!!

But look at the bright side....she may not live long enough to really spread this insane way of thinking around.........
[/size]

[Lil Red]

[quote name='cmotherofpirl' post='1501727' date='Apr 17 2008, 09:42 AM']But Shvarts insists her concept was not designed for “shock value.”[/quote]
+J.M.J.+
in the nicest way possible, that's bull.



i take comfort in the fact that there is One who judges justly.

[Autumn Dusk]

a good lawyer could have her arrested. There is a law against holding human remains.

[farglefeezlebut]

Please, God, let this be a hoax.

[veroni213]

What is even more disturbing is that she wasn't alone. The article suggests the sperm donors knew what they were donating for. Sad.

I wonder how Ms. "Safe, Rare and Legal" would respond to this horrific act of violence.

EDIT: I did a Google search and it looks like it might be a hoax. Wonder how Yale will treat the situation. If it is a hoax (I sure hope so), it better not count as "free speech."

Edited April 17, 2008 by TrueImage