We Won't Go Back

This a 12"X12" mixed media piece I just completed. The slogan  "We won't go back" has been adopted by outraged women everywhere taking a stand against the repression of women's bodily autonomy. Women's right to safe and accessible abortion is being outlawed across the country. We can't let it happen without a fight. We won't go back to the days of unsafe, illegal coat hanger abortions!

Women's choice over pregnancy and motherhood is a bedrock to women's equality in any society. Without it, she loses equitable standing in education and the work force. Without those, she becomes, at best, a second class citizen.

For me,  this makes an intersectional pro-choice movement one of the most important issues at this time. I know that is a bold statement and I do not say it lightly. I have thought long and hard about this. But when I think of all the many issues we need to be working on strategically, this issue cuts across class, race, religion, etc. If the outlawing of women's control over their bodies continues to be eradicated, our entire democracy will exponentially backslide.

As this piece evolved (I worked two days on an earlier version only to abandon it and restart), I saw anger coming into the piece. Anger that is righteous and fearsome. I welcomed it. I wanted an element of guerrilla grrl resistance. I chose ransom note type of font to imbue a sense of dread. The brick wall (un-coincidentally blue for boys) is no match for the woman breaking through it, amid blood red flames.

And if that is not enough (LOL), I repeat vaginal imagery thought the canvas. The woman emerging parallels a baby crowning somewhat. I wanted to evoke lightning with the yellow jagged line. And it was important to me that she gazed directly at the viewer. She is not passive. 

I feel good about this piece. While painting, I kept hearing my art school professors decrying the propagandist viewpoint as poster art, not "fine" art. But weren't Goya's paintings political? One good thing about being 62 is that I no longer internalize mandates that do not make sense to me about my art. 

Now, it is not necessary to have gotten all that from looking at this piece. If you are drawn to it for whatever reason, that makes me happy. If you like this artwork or the message or both, you can shop it in my Etsy store here.