Artist Statement

I create patriotic art with objects of women’s reproductive journeys- symbols of our incredible creative power and agency.

However, the red, white, and blue thread also reflects the insidious injustices women face in the US: the loss of reproductive freedom, the adverse health effects of racism and sexism, overt and covert hostility and violence. In our culture menstruation epitomises the idea of women as emotionally unhinged and chaotically unstable- “You could see there was blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her wherever.”

Our most horrendous injustices center on blood- the hemorrhage of a mother who dies, the afterbirth of a baby who doesn’t survive. We have the worst maternal mortality and stillbirth/infant death rates in the advanced world. Black women and babies are especially at risk. It’s no surprise states with the worst maternal/fetal death rates have the most body bans and the worst prenatal care. But we don’t know, so we don’t care, so we don’t change.