abortion as art? (HOAX)

How do you feel about this? I think its absolutely disgusting and I can't believe a senior at Yale is doing this for her art project, to purposefully create life and then destroy it is sadistic and morally wrong.

http://yaledailynews.com/articles/view/24513

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.

Ew. Now I'm nauseous.

 

I'm pro-choice, but I think abortion should be used only as an alternative to unwanted pregnancy, not just to make a point. 

Oh my. That is disgusting. I am on the fence about abortion...but this is just wrong.

Without even touching on the ethics... The whole project doesn't sound like art, and is in very poor taste. She saves a bunch of her blood, and then she has video of her experiencing miscarriages? That's so... I don't even know what to say.

yeah I'm pro-choice but I agree that this is not art and she's not proving anything or getting any message across besides the fact that she is heartless b****. I hope she never has children, she obviously contains no compassion, respect, or love for another life.

Wait! What? Wow....

*pukes*

im also pro choice and like meleba, I do not think it should be used like this!

She could have acted and recreated materials to get the same effect in her "art" project

The only reason she did this for real must have been to get attention. =/ And I don't even get her message. what IS her message? ughh scary and gross.

Looks as if this is a "creative fiction" I really hope it is fake. Just terrible.

From The New York Sun:

Yale: Student's Art Project Only 'Creative Fiction'

By JOSH GERSTEIN, Staff Reporter of the Sun | April 17, 2008

A Yale student’s bizarre art project in which she claimed to have repeatedly impregnated and induced abortions in herself is a work of "creative fiction," the university said in a statement this afternoon.

The Yale Daily News reported this morning that Aliza Shvarts’s senior project, set to go on display next week, included video of her bleeding in her bathtub, as well as plastic sheeting layered with a mixture of Vaseline and the post-abortion blood.

"Ms. Shvarts is engaged in performance art," a Yale spokeswoman, Helaine Klasky, said. "She stated to three senior Yale University officials today, including two deans, that she did not impregnate herself and that she did not induce any miscarriages. The entire project is an art piece, a creative fiction designed to draw attention to the ambiguity surrounding form and function of a woman’s body."

Ms. Klasky went on to suggest that Yale would not have permitted a project of the sort described in the student newspaper. "Had these acts been real, they would have violated basic ethical standards and raised serious mental and physical health concerns."

I don't understand why she would make something up like that.

Original Post by peacecalilove:

I don't understand why she would make something up like that.

heres what i think...either:

1) she really did it and is looking for a way out now that she realizes people thinks its a horrible thing to do

2) she did stage it but lied when she said that she didnt care about shock value. if she said it was real, obviously she was going for shock value. any art statement she could possibly make would be just as loud of a statement had she said at the beginning that it was staged and that there were no actual abortions.



im pro-choice but if that "art" is real, thats horribly disgusting and very wrong.

Real or fake, the whole project just seems very, very strange. There must be something about it I just don't understand. *shrug*

I'm pretty startled. I mean, I am pro choice but this seems like a gross abuse. I hope it turns out this wasn't real.

Isn't something like this dangerous? I mean, couldn't she have really hurt herself?

The girl is bizarre, but I don't believe she got pregnant that many times in 9 months. I think it is far more likely that she got her period, and she took something that made her stomach upset. Regardless, that's not art, that's vile and idiotic.

this is terrible. If she did force multi-abortions; who knows the strength of her uterus when she actually WANTS to have a baby when she grows out of this phase and into her next.... Hving a miscarriage is very painful on the body as well- this seems more like self-infliction a and nd self-mutilation rather than art. to capture such an emotional physical loss one could have done a documentary on women who opted to share their experiences. I do believe that women should have the choice when they find out they are pregnant; but inducing miscarriages in her bathtub is like getting the same effect as if she cut herself if what she wanted to capture was the effect of who knows what...... I think she needs some therapy and hospitalization. And whose to say how long she actually waited to abort the child?? how far along was she each time? isn't that like wasting a soul?? (a whole other topic) i could go on and on.

I hope my post did not offend anyone.

I don't know about a soul, but it's definitely a waste of an egg and some perfectly good sperm. I think you're right,  Vanessa. It's self harm and if it's real (which I doubt, after reading cipi's article,) that girl needs some serious therapy. And probably a job. 

I'm pro-choice and all, but I'm sorry.  This is terrible.  As an appreciator of art, I'm trying to see that aspect of it, and while it does provoke some serious emotions and thoughts, they're nothing I've ever managed to think/feel about any type of art.  If that's what she was going for, she hit the nail on the head and I get the feeling a whole lot of people are going to start bashing her with hammers for this project.

i don't know about the whole soul thing either-  but you are so right that it is a waste of a perfectly good egg and swimmer!!!  there are a lot of people out there who dream about getting pregnant so easily.  seems like a waste -  it would be more of an art if she recorded her pregnancy and shared what it was like to be a surrogate or something.  SOMETHING other than that.  miscarriages and abortions are very painful subjects for almost all women out there in some form of another.  it's a shame to see someone try to make art out of it.  It's one thing to celebrate womanhood-  i know there was an artist out there who literally painted with only her TTOM blood (which I think is kinda gross, but whatever).  but the whole abortion thing just gets me!

It's a hoax.

Immature college prank passing itself off as art. Stupid and irresponsible.

haha Vanessa, I knew someone who painted with her menstrual blood.

As for this "art work", fake or not, whatever. Pro-life people have the same complaints about women who have abortions for valid reasons.

That girl will have a lot of explaining to do IF she makes it to heaven.