Exhibition: Laia Abril – On Abortion

Opening: 20.2.2018 ore 19
Laia Abril sarà presente.
Mostra: 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

Oggi esistono mezzi sicuri ed efficaci per effettuare un aborto, ma ogni anno muoiono 47.000 donne a causa di aborti falliti. Il progetto di Aia Abril On Abortion (Su aborto) documenta e concettualizza questi pericoli e danni causati dalla mancanza di accesso legale, sicuro e gratuito all’aborto da parte delle donne. Mentre intreccia la sua rete di domande sull’etica e la moralità, Abril crea anche una serie di manifestazioni meditative visive e testuali degli inneschi sociali, degli stigmi e dei tabù sull’aborto che sono rimasti invisibili fino ad ora.

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 è il primo capitolo del nuovo progetto a lungo termine di Abril A History of Misogyny – ricerca visiva intrapresa attraverso confronti storici e contemporanei – è stata una mostra a Les Rencontres d’Arles nel 2016 e un libro, pubblicato da Dewi Lewis nel 2017.

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 (Barcellona, 1986) è una fotografa, bookmaker e artista visiva di Barcellona. Dopo essersi laureata in giornalismo a Barcellona e aver studiato fotografia a New York si è iscritta alla residenza di artisti di FABRICA dove ha lavorato per COLORS Magazine come redattore creativo e fotografa dello staff per 5 anni.
I suoi progetti sono stati mostrati a livello internazionale e il suo lavoro è ospitato in collezioni private e pubbliche, tra cui il Musée de l’Elysée, il Museo Winterthur in Svizzera o il MNAC di Barcellona. Nel 2015 è stata nominata per il Foam Paul Huf Award e la Joop Swart Masterclass nel 2014, e più recentemente è stata premiata con il Premio Revelación PhotoEspaña e Madame Figaro – Rencontres Arles per la sua mostra A History of Misogyny, chapter one: On Abortion.
Ha auto-pubblicato Thinspiration nel 2012, Tediousphilia (Musée de l’Elysée, 2014) e The Epilogue (Dewi Lewis, 2014), che è stato acclamato e shortlisted per il ParisPhoto-Aperture First Book Award, Kassel PhotoBook Festival e Photo España Best Book Award. Il suo progetto di libro Lobismuller (RM, 2016) ha vinto il Images Book Award ed è stato presentato a Paris Photo 2016.