Sometimes, the best exhibits are the ones that scare the hell out of you.
Labeled "shocking," "terrifying" and "almost frightening" by viewers, the two installations currently in the Louise Brown Jones Gallery of the Bryan Center will certainly make you think. You might like them, you might hate them, you might be truly disturbed by them-but you can't ignore them.
If "Warnings" doesn't shock you with its inflammatory comparisons between anti-abortionists and Nazis, then "Wake Up Little Susie: Power and Pregnancy Before Roe v. Wade" will grab your attention in a more concrete way: You have to concentrate so you don't trip over the life-size, wire-frame figures in the middle of the floor.
Artists Cathleen Meadows, Kay Obering and Kathy Hutton use these abstract chess pieces to show the interrelationships between different factors central to the abortion debate between 1945 and 1965. The installation-based on the work of writer Rickie Solinger-is presented along racial lines, illustrated by the black and white game pieces and chessboard tiles; the mixed-media exhibit incorporates letters, newspaper articles and pictures in the plaques on the walls, which correspond to each chess figure and embody the attitudes and realities in that particular era.
"Unwed mothers at the time... were a specific group," reads the 'Castle: Maternity Home' placard. "They fell somewhere between criminals and mental patients... they were prescribed an exact and fortifying treatment: They were made to disappear."
These mothers are designated 'pawns' in "Wake Up Little Susie's" chess paradigm. Other pawns include the unborn children themselves-one of the most poignant pieces is that of the black aborted female. The plaque on the wall bears an image powerful in its simplicity: a black woman in the foreground holds bouquets of flowers; her face has been cut out, leaving only a black hole. The faceless figure stands in a room with support beams that look like bones-reminiscent of the inside of a ribcage.
Some of the wire chess pieces are equally hard-hitting. The power of the 'Policeman' (knight) figure is more frightening than poignant-he stands guard over the 'Black Abortionist' figure, his white plaster hands tied to the frame with rusted wire. He wears a hat and a gun, and has binoculars for eyes. As a final touch, a plaster phallus hangs suspended within the hollow body.
The entire exhibit turns out to be less black-and-white than it might first appear. The lines blur, not only for race, but for the themes of the display. It's not a simple illustration of black vs. white, male vs. female, pro-abortionists vs. anti-abortionists. It's a breathtaking combination of all these issues, which, taken in sum, created the laws and attitudes toward abortion in the post-WWII era.
Although the 1973 decision to legalize abortion created a different set of rules, the turmoil surrounding the issue obviously persists-as demonstrated by the recent wave of anti-choice violence in the United States.
This violence was part of the inspiration for "Warnings" (half of which is also on display in the Women's Center), the other installation in the Jones Gallery. This exhibit is a collection of computer photomontages created by Lisa Link that compares anti-abortion arguments and Nazi rhetoric. One of the most striking pieces depicts rows of Nazi soldiers surrounded by cheeseburgers and french fries. This strange-looking image is explained by the incorporated quotes from a Nazi SS officer in 1936 and an anti-abortion activist in 1990.
"If these abortions could be prevented," says the German officer, "in 20 years we would have an additional 200 regiments."
His logic parallels that of Mike Wiley, of the Oregon Citizens Alliance, in a frightening way. "Abortion is to blame for the shortage of help in fast food restaurants and grocery stores. The babies aborted in the early '70s would now be serving cheeseburgers."
No matter how bizarre or disturbing these installations are, they cannot fail to stimulate the viewer-whether through offense or inspiration. The issue at hand, however, involves more than just abortion. It's the question of how much control women can exert over their own lives and bodies, and this theme is brought into crystal clear focus by the union of these two exhibits.
"Wake Up Little Susie" and "Warnings" will be in the Bryan Center's Louise Jones Brown Gallery thru Dec. 6. For more information, see calendar, p.11.
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