Description
About this piece:
These nesting books, meant to be very pretty, frilly, and “girly” are about pregnancy and abortion during these troubling times when so many people harshly judge what they don’t understand, placing women’s healthcare and women’s lives at high risk. The pages of the outer book are shaped into many vulvas which are then bound together. The inner book is shaped like a woman’s cervix and is bound around a knitting needle protruding well beyond the pages. The text reads “you should have kept your knees together slut.” Glass beads adorn both books. Knitting needles and wire hangers are just two of the many types of commonly used “instruments” for self-administered abortions. They can and do cause irreparable harm and death to women who desperately take matters into their own hands because they are denied healthcare.
Materials:
coffee filters, handmade paper, beads, knitting needle
About the artist:
Lives and works in Michigan, United States of America. Erin K. Schmidt is an artist who creates private, evocative spaces within her handbound and sculptural book art. She earned her BFA from Michigan State University, and earned her MA in Book Arts from Camberwell College of Arts, University of the Arts London. Her work has been exhibited internationally, and can be found in private and public collections including Tate Britain, Oxford University, RISD, and Yale University. Erin K. Schmidt was awarded a Kresge Artist Fellowship in 2023 for book arts.
