USA –Juanita McNeely, Groundbreaking Feminist Artist Who Bravely Depicted Her Illegal Abortion, Dies at 87

Maximilíano Durón
October 26, 2023

Juanita McNeely, a groundbreaking feminist artist whose work has seen a resurgence in interest over the past few years, died on October 18 in New York. She was 87 years old.

“For over six decades, McNeely addressed themes of bodily sovereignty, liberation, pain and resilience through her work,” James Fuentes, the New York gallery that has represented her since 2020, said in a statement. “McNeely used her art to convey the extreme physicality and movement of the human figure, informed by her personal observations and experiences of sexism, abortion and infirmity.”

Continued: https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/juanita-mcneely-feminist-artist-dead-1234684850/


Neon art installation begins tour of US states where abortion rights are threatened

The month-long tour of Alicia Eggert’s neon text work ‘OURs’ was organised by Planned Parenthood to pressure lawmakers and raise awareness of efforts to restrict abortion rights

Annabel Keenan
4 February 2022

Planned Parenthood and artist Alicia Eggert have joined forces on a cross-country, roving installation to advocate for abortion rights. Titled OURs, the pink neon sign flashes between the phrases “OUR BODIES,” “OUR FUTURES,” and “OUR ABORTIONS”. The installation debuted in front of the Supreme Court in Washington, DC on 22 January, the 49th anniversary of the Roe vs. Wade ruling that enshrined abortion rights in US law. The installation is continuing on its tour to several states over the next month.

Alexis McGill Johnson, president and chief
executive of Planned Parenthood, describes the installation as a “beacon of
light in the darkness of this moment”, referring to the increase in abortion
restrictions in several state, as well as the Supreme Court’s recent indication
that Roe vs. Wade could be overturned after having heard arguments in a case
involving Mississippi’s restrictions on abortion in December.

Continued: https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2022/02/04/abortion-rights-planned-parenthood-neon-art-alicia-eggert


Malta – When abortion gives birth to art

When abortion gives birth to art
Local artists have tended to steer clear of this taboo topic, but examples exist

Mar 29, 2020
Lisa Gwen Andrews

For, or against?

That is not the debate. Not here, not now.

This is, however, a mere first attempt at illustrating the woes of women and individuals who have tried, over the years, to visually portray the emotion and experience in relation to the topic of abortion and women’s reproductive rights.

Continued: https://timesofmalta.com/articles/view/when-abortion-gives-birth-to-art.781379


South Africa – Art exhibition highlights abortion stigma

Art exhibition highlights abortion stigma

27th September 2019
Marcia Zali

The Voices and Choices exhibition will put a spotlight on issues of abortion and reproductive justice in the country, as part of the #MybodyMychoice coalition campaign.

South Africans from different organisations and communities are expected to have a unique experience surrounding conversations about the stigma associated with abortion. The multimedia Voices and Choices exhibition is a collaboration of South African female artists under the curatorship of Mmabatho Montsho.

Continued: https://health-e.org.za/2019/09/27/art-exhibition-highlights-abortion-stigma/


Portugal – The Abortion Pastels, Paula Rego

The Abortion Pastels, Paula Rego
May 21, 2018 / womensartblog

In 1998 Portuguese born artist Paula Rego created a series of work entitled Untitled. The Abortion Pastels. Rego created her work in response to a referendum to legalise abortion in Portugal, which was very narrowly defeated. Each canvas depicted the image of a woman undergoing an unsafe abortion.

Rego was born in Portugal in 1935, into what she describes as a repressive, middle-class Portuguese life in which women were highly encouraged to do nothing, while working-class women were forced to do everything. The painter recalls girlhood as a time of learning obedience to men, in addition to secretive and confused messages about puberty, sexual abstention and female propriety. Subsequently, after leaving 1950’s, then fascist Portugal, described by her father as a ‘killer society for women’, to attend London’s Slade School of Fine Art, Rego recollected an era including coerced sex leading to secretive and often tortuous back street abortions. In turn, her Abortion series would be both inspired by her own experiences and that of her fellow female students and what she had witnessed growing up around the small Portuguese villages of her formative years.

Continued: https://womensartblog.wordpress.com/2018/05/21/the-abortion-pastels-paula-rego/