Miami New Times: Reproductive and Bodily Rights Get the Spotlight During Miami Art Week

Antonia Wright Sate of Labor PAMM Portrait in installation

By Liz Tracy, December 3, 2024

Reproductive and Bodily Rights Get the Spotlight During Miami Art Week

Long a taboo topic, artworks on abortion and the loss of other bodily rights will be on display during Miami Art Week.
Amid defiant and determined cries for freedom and equality at the 2016 Women’s March in Washington, D.C., artist Antonia Wright knew it was time to take action in the fight for reproductive health and rights. “I had this gut reaction: They’re going to overturn Roe v. Wade,” she recalls, referring to the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that protected the right to abortion — a safe and sometimes necessary way to end a pregnancy — across the country for nearly 50 years.
Her gut was correct. In 2022, the court overturned its landmark ruling, letting states ban some or all abortion care. Currently, 21 states have total bans or restrictions early in pregnancy. In Florida, abortion is illegal after six weeks of pregnancy — before many people know they’re pregnant — and a recent ballot initiative that aimed to protect abortion in the state’s Constitution failed despite the approval of 57 percent of voters.

Abortion, which the New York Times called an “art taboo” in 2022, is finally in the spotlight this Miami Art Week, offering women, in particular, a place to grieve and speak frankly about how to navigate life in a state where they’ve lost control over their own bodies. “If you force somebody to have a child when they don’t want to have it, you take away their autonomy for the rest of their life,” Wright observes.

A mother of two, she used her platform as an artist to create works that respond to the loss of her and others’ rights. Her installations, State of Labor and Hang-her, will be on display at Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM) alongside an upcoming traveling exhibition, “Body Freedom for Every(Body),” which addresses threats to the bodies of women and LGBTQ communities.