Comparing Yale Student Aliza Shvarts' Abortion Art Project to Other Controversial Art

According to The Yale Daily News, senior and Art major Aliza Shvarts goal in creating her senior art project was to "spark conversation and debate." In that, Ms. Shvarts has certainly succeeded, but many Yale students and members of the art community have doubts about her motivation. For the project, which is set to go on exhibit next Tuesday, she claims she artificially inseminated herself "as often as possible" and then induced abortions so she could videotape them in her bathtub. She saved the blood from her miscarriages and will use that, along with her videotaped abortions, as part of her exhibit.

Her art display will feature a large cube suspended from the ceiling and wrapped in plastic sheeting. Between those plastic sheets will be the blood from her forced abortions, mixed with petroleum jelly. The video recordings of her miscarriages will be projected onto all four sides of the cube, as well as the walls of the room.

Yale authorities say that the project is a hoax. However, Shvarts claims that although she's not sure she was successful in having miscarriages, it wasn't a hoax.

There have been several controversial art project in recent years. The Cremaster Cycle 4 by Matthew Barney is one of these, which I was fortunate enough to see on display at the Guggenheim in New York City a few years ago. The Cremaster Cycle is unsettling, at times downright disturbing, and always shocking. The Cremaster Cycle is about "the process of creation", according to the Guggenheim's website. It featured large reproductions of sperm and ova, an amputee with prosthetic legs made of glass, and a video of creatures from the display scaling the cylindrical inner walls of the Guggenheim. In spite of the exhibits ability to shock and disturb, it was a display whose meaning and merit could be discussed long after you left the building. And I realized that, in the end, there was a reason for the seemingly chaotic madness.

And then there is the much-talked about piece entitled "Piss Christ" by Andres Serrano, a photograph showing a crucifix submerged in a jar of the artist's urine. Although I had never heard of a more offensive artistic effort and did not agree with how the artist expressed himself (until the recent work of Ms. Shvarts), "Piss Christ" is often used as a test case for freedom of speech cases (according to Your 3D Source).

How do these other controversial art works stack up to Ms. Shvarts "art project". Though the Cremaster Cycle dealt with the creation of life and the human condition, it did not harm anyone or trivialize life itself. And though Serrano's "Piss Christ" was disgusting and (to me) twisted, it could be argued that the thing inside the jar of urine was a piece of plastic, and not God himself. According to Yahoo!, both sides of the abortion debate are upset by Shvarts' actions, which is a rare thing indeed. The pro-life advocates are upset because, in their eyes, she trivialized human life by effectively killing her unborn children and videotaping it. The pro-choice groups are upset because, frankly, it trivializes abortion when it is, in their opinion, a serious matter for a woman and not a choice to be made lightly.

My question is this: does Aliza Shvarts even have a soul? Or is a serious mental illness involved? I am a woman who has had two children myself. I was terrified at the idea of a miscarriage. And she intentionally impregnated herself an unknown number of times and forced her body to abort. And taped the miscarriages in her bathtub. Self-induced abortions are brutal, painful processes, even under a doctor's care. What could possibly be the artistic purpose of such an endeavor? I can think of only one motivation. If Aliza Shvarts wanted to be famous, if she wanted a crowded exhibition, if she wanted to be on the news, then she has gotten her wish. If by "spark conversation" she meant shock people at her total disregard for women's rights and human life, then she has succeeded. Any future art projects she creates will receive scrutiny and public attention, which they may not have received otherwise. Although I believe fully in controversial art and it's ability to make people think, I also believe this woman's project debases art, debases women and debases human life. Hopefully, future young artists looking to create controversy will use thought and creativity, rather than base shock, to get their message across.