Materials:
Steel wire coat hanger
Cotton twine
Watercolor
Medical exam gown
Stretched denim canvas
Statement:
Granny told me stories about the coat-hanger women. People who punctured their wombs trying to ‘hide their sin’ or ‘avoid the consequences of their actions.’ It wasn’t always a coat-hanger, but the result was always the same - a gruesome death that could have been avoided if the person had just accepted the inevitable role of mother.
Granny's stories were intended to be a form of birth control in a state that believes abstinence is the best policy. A state that forces people into desperate situations through corrupt and unjust laws. A state where abortion's roots run deep.
Abortion's roots twist and turn through the Alabama clay - the life potential of all our mothers weaves through hard-packed grit. We don't save lives by restricting abortion. We trade lives by forcing women into desperate do-it-yourself situations or locking them into a lifetime appointment in the role of mother.