Roe V. Wade Overturned: Protest Art And A $14K NFT

Roe V. Wade Overturned: Protest Art And A $14K NFT

Following the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn the landmark case of Roe V. Wade, women’s reproductive rights have been constitutionally revoked. While the ability to attain an abortion will be based on each state’s ruling, a number of states have already passed legislation to ban, or highly restrict, the procedure. In response, protests have sprung up throughout the United States against the decision (an aspect of the larger public reaction since the event of June 24th). 

The female artist community has voiced its opinion, using its platform to engage in protest art. Jenny Holzer, a feminist artist, has created a digital artwork, an NFT, to respond to the SCOTUS decision’s on Roe V. Wade.

The image is a screenshot of a tweet from ACLU staffer Gillian Branstetter, who drew an association from a May 11, 2021 segment of Tucker Carlson Tonight about the Covid-19 vaccine and Holzer’s work. Noting the show’s ticker message, “MAKING AN INFORMED CHOICE REGARDING YOUR OWN BODY SHOULDN’T BE CONTROVERSIAL,” Branstetter wrote, “This is like a Jenny Holzer installation or something right.” 

Branstetter noticed the similarities to Holzer’s series “Truisms.” The installation was a collection of statements, as Holzer herself observed, “to [speak to] the anxiety, humor, banality, tragedy, and urgency of modern life.” When describing how “Truisms” related to Carlson’s segment, Holzer wrote, “The phrases ‘ABUSE OF POWER COMES AS NO SURPRISE’ and ‘LISTEN WHEN YOUR BODY TALKS’ can be found among them.” 

The NFT, titled “BODY,” highlights the hypocrisy and self-contradiction of the anti-abortion movement and their push to eliminate the Roe V. Wade decision. Holzer wrote on her Instagram: “the chyron was meant to be read as an anti-vaccine pronouncement, but the words could be a pro-choice statement.” 

In conjunction with the Foundation platform, an online NFT marketplace, Holzer plans to donate the proceeds of the auction (12.10 ETH or $14,922 USD) to pro-choice organizations — Planned Parenthood, the Center for Reproductive Rights, and PAI. 

Poignant artwork such as “BODY” will now be incorporated into the history of Roe V. Wade, the American tradition of protest art, and its relationship to social activism. 

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