Exhibition: Laia Abril – On Abortion

Opening: 20.2.2018, 19 Uhr
Laia Abril wird anwesend sein.
Ausstellung: 21.2. – 24.3.2018

Hippocratic betrayal and obstetric violence
On February 2015, a 19-year-old pregnant woman ingested abortive pills in São Bernardo do Campo, Brazil. She started feeling abdominal pains, so her aunt took her to hospital. After she was treated, her doctor called the police, saying he would autopsy the fetus if she did not confess to trying to abort. She was handcuffed to her hospital bed, and freed only after paying a 250€ bail.Denunciation by doctors is not uncommon in Brazil, Peru or El Salvador.
Women who are reported for attempting abortion can be detained in hospitals for weeks or months. Many doctors claim they are legally required to notify authorities when they suspect an abortion, in contradiction of professional codes of doctor-patient confidentiality.
Note: photographic reconstruction.
Laia Abril.
Laia Abril „On Abortion“ foto-forum, Bozen/Bolzano

Heute gibt es sichere und effiziente Abtreibungsmöglichkeiten, doch jedes Jahr sterben 47.000 Frauen an verpfuschten Abtreibungen. Laia Abrils Projekt On Abortion (Über Abtreibung) dokumentiert und konzeptualisiert diese Gefahren und Schäden, die durch den fehlenden legalen, sicheren und freien Zugang von Frauen zu Abtreibungen verursacht werden. Während Abril ihr Netz von Fragen um Ethik und Moral webt, kreiert sie auch eine Reihe von meditativen visuellen und textlichen Manifestationen der sozialen Auslöser, Stigmata und Tabus um die Abtreibung, die bis heute unsichtbar geblieben sind.

 

Portrait of Marta, 29, Poland
„On January 2, 2015, I traveled to Slovakia to have an abortion. [In Poland, abortion is illegal except in cases of sexual assault, serious fetal deformation, or threat to the mother’s life.] I was too scared to take DIY abortion pills alone. What if something went wrong? So I decided to get a surgical abortion in a clinic abroad. I felt upset about borrowing money for the procedure, and lonely and frustrated because I couldn’t tell anyone what was happening. The hardest part was facing my boyfriend, who opposes abortion. All the same, I felt stronger and more mature afterwards.“ – Marta
Abortion is legal in nearly all EU countries, except Poland, Ireland and Malta. In Poland abortion is illegal except in cases of sexual assault, serious fetal deformation, or threat to the mother’s life. The official number of abortions performed in this country with 38 million inhabitants, is only about 750 per year. According to Dutch pro-choice organization Women on Waves, the real number is closer to 240,000.
Marta’s Portrait comes along a with a Photonovel on her illegal abortion.
Poland, 2016. Laia Abril.
Laia Abril „On Abortion“ foto-forum, Bozen/Bolzano

On Abortion ist das erste Kapitel von Abrils neuem Langzeitprojekt A History of Misogyny – visuelle Forschung, die durch historische und zeitgenössische Vergleiche durchgeführt wurde – eine Ausstellung in Les Rencontres d’Arles im Jahr 2016 und ein Buch, das 2017 von Dewi Lewis veröffentlicht wurde.

In the picture a set of household abortion tools. In places where abortion is illegal, certain medical instruments can be a giveaway. For this reason, specific supplies have rarely been developed or sold for this procedure. Instead, doctors, back-street abortionists and pregnant women turn to common household tools: knitting needles, wire clothes hangers, urinary catheters and a wide variety of other objects long enough to reach into the uterus.
In the history of coercive reproduction, before the legalization of abortion – and currently in the countries which remains illegal; was dominated for centuries by restrictive laws, based on demographic and religious agendas. Due the lack of alternatives, women was forced to apply dangerous methods for termination of her pregnancy, facing serious physical damage or even death. Both safe and very effective methods were only developed as of the middle of the last century.  The lives and the survival rate of women have thereby greatly improved.
Museum of contraception and Abortion, Vienna, Austria, 2015. Laia Abril.
Laia Abril „On Abortion“ foto-forum, Bozen/Bolzano

Laia Abril (Barcelona, ​​1986) ist Fotografin, Buchmacherin und bildende Künstlerin aus Barcelona. Nach ihrem Abschluss in Journalismus in Barcelona und dem Studium der Fotografie in New York schrieb sie sich bei der Künstlerresidenz von FABRICA ein, wo sie 5 Jahre lang als kreative Redakteurin und Staff-Fotografin beim COLORS Magazine arbeitete.
Ihre Projekte wurden international gezeigt und ihre Arbeiten sind Teil von privaten und öffentlichen Sammlungen, darunter das Musée de l’Elysée, das Winterthur Museum in der Schweiz oder MNAC in Barcelona. 2015 wurde sie für Foam’s Paul Huf Award nominiert und 2014 für die Joop Swart Masterclass. In jüngerer Zeit wurde sie mit dem Premio Revelación PhotoEspaña und dem Madame Figaro – Rencontres Arles Preis für ihre Ausstellung A History of Misogyny, chapter one: On Abortion ausgezeichnet.
Sie veröffentlichte 2012 im Selbstverlag Thinspiration, Tediousphilia (Musée de l’Elysée, 2014) und The Epilogue (Dewi Lewis, 2014), das für den ParisPhoto-Aperture First Book Award, Kassel PhotoBook Festival und Photo España Best Book Award hoch gelobt und gelistet wurde. Ihr Buchprojekt Lobisuller (RM, 2016) gewann den Images Book Award und wurde in Paris Photo 2016 präsentiert.

Laia Abril „On Abortion“, Exhibition at foto forum Bolzano/Bozen (Italy) 20.2. – 24.3.2018, Exhibition View: Claudia Corrent

Laia Abril „On Abortion“, Exhibition at foto forum Bolzano/Bozen (Italy) 20.2. – 24.3.2018, Exhibition View: Claudia Corrent

Laia Abril „On Abortion“, Exhibition at foto forum Bolzano/Bozen (Italy) 20.2. – 24.3.2018, Exhibition View: Claudia Corrent

Laia Abril „On Abortion“, Exhibition at foto forum Bolzano/Bozen (Italy) 20.2. – 24.3.2018, Exhibition View: Claudia Corrent

Laia Abril „On Abortion“, Exhibition at foto forum Bolzano/Bozen (Italy) 20.2. – 24.3.2018, Exhibition View: Claudia Corrent

Laia Abril „On Abortion“, Exhibition at foto forum Bolzano/Bozen (Italy) 20.2. – 24.3.2018, Exhibition View: Claudia Corrent

Laia Abril „On Abortion“, Exhibition at foto forum Bolzano/Bozen (Italy) 20.2. – 24.3.2018, Exhibition View: Claudia Corrent

Laia Abril „On Abortion“, Exhibition at foto forum Bolzano/Bozen (Italy) 20.2. – 24.3.2018, Exhibition View: Claudia Corrent

Laia Abril „On Abortion“, Exhibition at foto forum Bolzano/Bozen (Italy) 20.2. – 24.3.2018, Exhibition View: Claudia Corrent

Laia Abril „On Abortion“, Exhibition at foto forum Bolzano/Bozen (Italy) 20.2. – 24.3.2018, Exhibition View: Claudia Corrent

Laia Abril „On Abortion“, Exhibition at foto forum Bolzano/Bozen (Italy) 20.2. – 24.3.2018, Exhibition View: Claudia Corrent

Laia Abril „On Abortion“, Exhibition at foto forum Bolzano/Bozen (Italy) 20.2. – 24.3.2018, Exhibition View: Claudia Corrent

Laia Abril „On Abortion“, Exhibition at foto forum Bolzano/Bozen (Italy) 20.2. – 24.3.2018, Exhibition View: Claudia Corrent

Laia Abril „On Abortion“, Exhibition at foto forum Bolzano/Bozen (Italy) 20.2. – 24.3.2018, Exhibition View: Claudia Corrent

Laia Abril „On Abortion“, Exhibition at foto forum Bolzano/Bozen (Italy) 20.2. – 24.3.2018, Opening: Claudia Corrent

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