CHICAGO — At the Democratic National Convention, we've seen a giant inflatable IUD, enjoyed a Trump 3-inch footlong, listened to an ode to gratitude journals, and stumbled upon one giant, sparkling vagina. Since it's not every day that a shimmering four-foot-tall vagina stops you in your tracks, it's only appropriate to give it your full respect and attention in the rare moments when it does happen.
This week, INTO ACT!ON 2024 hosted an art & culture exhibition at Resolution Studios, about a mile away from the United Center. The "non-partisan multi-day event" was co-hosted by TaskForce and Drive Agency, and featured DJs, performers, a mobile health clinic offering vasectomies and abortion pills, and "over 200 curated pieces of art designed to empower and inspire people to vote and actively participate in our democracy." Great! Among those pieces was the powerful vajazzled vagina sculpture. But this isn't just any vajazzled vagina, this vajazzled vagina was crafted with the remnants of reproductive rights destroyed by the GOP.
Niki Johnson, a Milwaukee-based artist, made "Hills & Valleys" with pieces of aluminum signs from five Planned Parenthood clinics in Wisconsin that were forced to shut down after Scott Walker, the state's former governor, and a GOP goul, defunded them in 2011. Walker would go on to ban uninsured women from receiving free cancer screenings, also in 2011, and pass an abortion ban in the state in 2015. Additionally, the mirrored pieces in the middle were made from a glass mirror Johnson got at Hobby Lobby, whose 2014 Supreme Court win allows companies to deny their employees birth control as long as they say they're religious.
Here's the full description from the accompanying plaque:
"'Hill & Valleys' is a large-scale sculpture made out of aluminum signage from Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin health centers shuttered under former Governor Scott Walker's administration. The production of this piece repurposed nearly every square inch of the signage from five health centers, creating a sculptural image of a woman's hips, groin, and thighs. Atop her pubic mound is a mirrored vajazzle of our nation's capitol. The mirror was purchased from Hobby Lobby, who won a landmark Supreme Court victory in 2014 allowing corporations to deny their employees birth control on religious grounds. A traditional quilt star pattern known as "Sarah's Choice" forms a backdrop behind the hips. This aluminum quilt integrates women's traditional craft into other artwork, infusing the visual language of our foremothers as the fabric upon which reproductive rights have been forged."
Gorgeous vagina art and a reminder that the GOP has never not been in the very weird business of governing women's bodies? Very mindful.
