An experimental digital story about reproductive justice, history, legal reasoning, metaphors, and the United States Supreme Court.

 

 

 

In June of 2023, I published an article in the Jindal Global Law Review entitled: “From the bottom up: marginalised students’ narratives of constitutionalism at an urban community college in the United States.” In that article, I shared five stories about reproductive justice from student surveys, assignment responses, and in-class discussions. These included:

Student Narratives

1. The government took my rights away; the government is taking away freedoms.
2. Men shouldn’t be allowed to tell me what to do with my body.
3. The Supreme Court made abortion illegal.
4. No one should be able to kill a baby.
5. This is just like the vaccine.

(Leggett, J.M., (2023). From the bottom up: marginalised students’ narratives of constitutionalism at an urban community college in the United States, Jindal Global Law Review. 77-97.

I was most struck with how the inability to distinguish misinformation, and popular common sense more broadly, served as an obstacle to reading and understanding legal cases.

In response to this publication, Maureen Connor, a conceputal artist, asked if I would be interested in working with her on an installation for an exhibit at the Old Stone House, in Brooklyn New York. I enthusiastically agreed and we met at the Old Stone house in July to view the space and to begin brainstorming.

 

 

We next met at Maureen’s studio and I reviewed what work she had done so far as part of the How To Perform an Abortion Art Collective.

 

 

We initially focused on the potentiality of growing abortion herbs for the installation in October, just over two months away, which would be a tight growing timeline but we figured we would give it a try. Maureen had not had much experience with indoor gardening with outside plants but I had as part of Eco-Urban, a multi-year collaborative project I worked on that included the construction of raised beds and an afterschool program at an elementary school, a symposium of student work at Kingsborough Community College’s Eco-Fest, a design consultation with Hostos University on Long Island, a design proposal for an Eco-Park at Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge and the development of events and lesson plans using an unused back space at a “garden” apartment in Brooklyn.

 

Insert Eco-Urban images.

 

When I next arrived at the studio, Maureen had begun growing abortion herbs in seed trays (inside lasagna platters, lol).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At that time, Maureen envisioned an “abortion kit” that would include abortion herb seeds, embedded into growing paper, inside of a parchment style envelope along with some additional reproductive justice resources.

 

 

 

 

 

The Co-Construction of a Happening (Kaprow, )

 

 

The Installation:

 

 

 

 

(Form: Metalogue?)