Yale Student Has Multiple Abortions in the Name of Art

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Originally Posted by Catty1

I think it's easiest to believe, either way, that she is mentally ill.

Even if she had made the whole thing up - same applies IMO.

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Absolutely, she is crackers.

The Yale hierarchy is insisting it was a hoax; she still claims it is true - or her version of the truth.

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But in a guest column published in Friday's student newspaper, Shvarts insisted the project was real. She described her "repeated self- induced miscarriages," although she allows that she never knew if she was actually pregnant.

"The most poignant aspect of this representation—the part most meaningful in terms of its political agenda (and, incidentally, the aspect that has not been discussed thus far)—is the impossibility of accurately identifying the resulting blood," she said.

"Because the miscarriages coincide with the expected date of menstruation (the 28th day of my cycle), it remains ambiguous whether ... there was ever a fertilized ovum or not. The reality of the pregnancy, both for myself and for the audience, is a matter of reading," she wrote.

Shvarts told the newspaper she planned to display a work that consisted of a cube lined with plastic sheets with a blood-and- petroleum-jelly mixture in between, onto which she would project video footage of herself "experiencing miscarriages in her bathroom tub."

University officials said Shvarts' project included visual representations, a news release and other narrative materials. When confronted by three senior Yale officials, including two deans, Shvarts acknowledged that she was never pregnant and did not induce abortions, Klasky said.

"She said if Yale puts out a statement saying she did not do this, she would say Yale was doing that to protect its reputation," Klasky said.

Shvarts told the paper her goal was to spark conversation and debate on the relationship between art and the human body.

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Shvarts told the paper her goal was to spark conversation and debate on the relationship between art and the human body.

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Why? What is the point? Is there something important about this "issue" that I am unaware of? In other words, why care about the relationship between art and the human body? Even with all the publicity, there's no mention of a real point.

All that effort and no real communication with the audience?

I can only assume she's obsessed with media attention.

THE PROBLEM WITH THE GENE POOL IS THAT THERE IS NO LIFE GUARD.

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I would think SOMEONE on staff is urging her to see a shrink... :rolleyes:

Follow up to http://petoftheday.com/talk/showthread.php?t=141454

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/htm...55_yale18.html

Art student admits she faked controversial project

By Susan Kinzie

The Washington Post

A Yale University student's senior art project, which she said documented her bleeding during repeated self-induced abortions, sparked a protest on campus, an outcry on the Internet and debates over morality, medicine, art and academia.

And — it was all faked. Senior Aliza Shvarts told Yale officials Thursday that she didn't get pregnant and didn't have abortions. But that didn't stop an outpouring of emotion as the story spread.

Earlier she said she had herself artificially inseminated as often as possible for much of the past year and then took legal, herbal abortifacient drugs and filmed herself in her bathtub cramping and bleeding from the miscarriages.

She said her work would include video, a sculpture and a spoken piece describing what she had done.

She declined to comment Thursday.

She presented a mock-up of the project in class last week and told the Yale Daily News she wanted to provoke debate about the relationship between art and the human body, but that the intention of the piece was not to scandalize anyone.

Well, it did.

Within hours after the article ran Thursday in the student newspaper, blogs were full of angry reactions, including horror that so many fetuses were apparently aborted, revulsion at the graphic nature of the piece, shock that someone would risk her health in such a way and general disdain for art and academia. (One blogger offered an alternative installation: Vomit in Sock.)

Students gathered near the administration building to protest Thursday afternoon, said sophomore John Behan, president of Choose Life at Yale (CLAY). "CLAY and the entire Yale community, I think, are appalled at what was a serious lapse in taste on the part of the student and the Yale art department."

Yale spokeswoman Helaine Klasky said Thursday: "Ms. Shvarts ... stated to three senior Yale University officials today ... that she did not impregnate herself and that she did not induce any miscarriages. The entire project is an art piece, a creative fiction designed to draw attention to the ambiguity surrounding form and function of a woman's body.

"She is an artist and has the right to express herself through performance art."

To many, her piece symbolizes the worst of art — shock without substance — and of academia, with professors encouraging useless introspection.

Within hours, photos of her in leopard-print shorts and fringed boots were on the Internet, with blog headlines such as "Aliza Shvarts is One Sick Puppy," and comments furious, disgusted and bitter.

Juan Castillo, a senior art major who saw Shvarts present the work in progress, said by phone that her artwork had been oversimplified and sensationalized. "It's a much more complex project," he said. "It's supposed to challenge the mythology of the body," he said.

"I think she was definitely trying to spark conversation ... But I don't know if she meant it to get this crazy, this out of control."

Staff writer Philip Rucker and researcher Meg Smith contributed to this story. Amila Golic reported from New Haven.

Copyright © 2008 The Seattle Times Company

Lovely...

What I find irritating is the perpetuation that it was real. It was said and implied that she had gone through the motions. That's it. Just don't try to pretend to be doing one thing and go do something totally different.

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Earlier she said she had herself artificially inseminated as often as possible for much of the past year and then took legal, herbal abortifacient drugs and filmed herself in her bathtub cramping and bleeding from the miscarriages.

She said her work would include video, a sculpture and a spoken piece describing what she had done.

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So, what? She was doing a project on if she had done that as a project?

Oh well, I guess. She got exactly what she wanted. It's her body, at any rate. If this is her perspective, she can have it if she please. :)

There has been a lot of controversy over this, but to be honest, it just doesn't bother me a whole lot.

She is an adult woman, and can do whatever she wants with herself. She is very Tracy Emin-like to me, and I have no doubt she will become rich because of this stunt and the media coverage it has had.