For senior, abortion a medium for art, political discourse Martine Powers 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.
Absolutely disgusting. I can't believe someone would do such a thing. As a person who believes in life at conception, this is a tragic horror...as someone who can understand why some women feel the need to choose abortion even if I disagree, I am outraged at the callousness of turning what is a difficult and often deeply sad process for most women into something that must feel like a mockery and trivialization of their pain. And she didn't discuss this with a doctor? Where did she get all the abortafacients?
It's a mockery of art as a whole, as well as pregnancy. I hope her uterus wears out from constant abuse and the poor bitch can't concieve again after she gets her fifteen minutes of polite golf-claps.
As a person who believes in choice, I'm absolutely disgusted. This completely devalues the debate, and I think she's an attention-seeking freak. I will spare the typing, and merely metaphorically vomit in a corner. I also think seeing her miscarried baby will shock her more than it shocks her audience. I suspect she is extremely not ready for this.
I doubt it. She self-induced all her abortions and collected and stored the remains herself. She will also be mixing those remains with Vaseline herself and putting that horror together herself. I imagine she watched all her recorded miscarriages for quality and did the editing herself. The kind of mind that could even...conceive...of this atrocity, let alone carry it out, is one that needs some serious therapy.
Oh right, I thought she was yet to do it, I only scanned the article. If she ever has kids in the future, I stand by my statement. She definitely needs at least serious therapy.
There is nothing wrong with abortion. That doesn't mean that this little girl--she's clearly not mature enough to be called a woman--isn't is need of some pretty severe therapy and probably hospitalization. She's quite clearly nuts, and not just a little nuts.
Exactly. If she were to infect herself with cancer - a condition that has caused pain for many - then grow the tumors, cut them out, have a masectomy, and put her cancer ridden ovaries, rubbed in vaseline, in a jar for all to see, and call it art, would you consider her mentally stable, just because there's no ethical debate over having cancer?
As a sensitive, caring liberal, how can I put this so that all involved understand the dynamic associated with her work? She's fucked in the head and needs her ass kicked by a whole bunch of women wearing cleats. That should do it. J.
Hey. I, for one, support this brave woman's Right to Choose. It is, after all, her body. Keep your laws off her body!
Here's how I see it, for all who care to wonder, in regards to abortion: I see abortion as an emergency, a last ditch action for a situation out of control. It is to be used only when there is a critical issue at hand, and one where the mother has fully realized the implications of the action. Therefore, I see it as a self defense issue, the preservation of one's self. This girl does not meet any of these criteria, therefore she steps into the realm of homicide, in my opinion. J.
Obviously that would surprise no one. In fact, a project about how people react to the idea of such an "art" project might itself be quite interesting. Still, so long as no one goes proposing general policy on the basis of a story like this there's no harm in taking it at face value until you know otherwise.
Disgusting. Yet, there's a creativity behind that I can recognize. People react, so the art is successful. When you think that everything's been said and done...
Do you have any idea how easy it is to make a disgusting spectacle of yourself? Takes no creativity, only a willingness to debase yourself for the pleasure of negative attention. If this girl wanted to spark a debate with this stunt, then she might as well have just started wiping her ass with other people's pillows.
It's been done long ago. Those guys did not paint with watercolors or something... That woman's idea, on the other hand, seems quite new. She doesn't seem to mind destroying herself so I'm looking forward to the next project, 'Human Torch Ultimate'.
Yale, one of the premier educational facilities in the world, turned down someone that will actually contribute to the world in order to let this moonbat in. That's some good admission screening there guys.
