Paper, colored pencil, embroidery floss, blackout poetry of Terr Kapsalis’ “Mastering the Female Pelvis”, glue
Artist Statement
“throw an abundance of light” into the dark
visible visible.
“the dark continent”
her internal depths
return to light.
We
are
not passive bodies in
need of taming.
“Light
all lies
“the sloughing of the soft parts”
the female body
not
as obstacle as object in need of
conquering and restructuring.
“the line between incentive and coercion is fuzzy.
slave as medical guinea pig.
“the human guinea pigs made no complaints
“human guinea pigs” willing acceptance of their role
the women
“were in no way volunteers
“The time was ripe”
“The time was ripe”
“The time was ripe
“the time was ripe”
the time is still ripe
made unfit for her duties?
The slave’s “duties”
her sexual and reproductive duties.
“fit for their duties
1968, Puerto Rico
these women sterilized so they could
“fulfill their duties”
US needed cheap labor
“fit for their duties.”
control
a factor of a woman’s social status
race, class, and economics.
Did they have husbands, partners, children, and loved ones
Were they given choices?
What were their feelings?
Did they agree?
Impossible to know. They
did not write their own histories.
these women’s lives are left unknown,
subject to surviving.
— poor, single, mothers on welfare —
women of color — what happened to choice?
how much “choice” a poor woman on welfare has
what is left invisible — pain and
suffering, power differences, slave identities, questionable origins, semi-
visible contraceptive technologies.
tell of their
sufferings and endurance