ARTIST STATEMENT
American women’s bodies have been the site of obsessive legislative control from a conservative political minority determined to control them, in effect, controlling the means of production for a very gross domestic product. The overturning of Roe v. Wade enables their desire to create a “domestic supply of (white) infants” and reveals their intentions to ensure an underclass of babies of color, who, when groomed, via systematically underfunded public education and inequitable community resources, become a cheap domestic labor supply. I used the mounted hands of a well groomed and patriotic white woman, holding a litter of white babies caught in a cat’s cradle children’s game, on a trophy pedestal, with a white baby caught in a chandelier of dripping blood to symbolize the social impact of their immoral and racist intentions.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
RoseRita “Rita” Walsh James, LCSW, LBS1 (she/her), is an eco-feminist artist and trauma therapist who specializes working with 18 to 35-year-old artists and creatives. She has a masters in social work from Governors State University, a masters in teaching special education from National Louis University, and a bachelor of arts in writing and women’s studies from Loyola University of New Orleans. She splits her time between the far south side of Chicago and the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans. Rita is the founder and Executive Director of the non-profit, Criú de Sheela Social Aid + Pleasure Club. She has shown her work in Chicago, IL, New Orleans, LA, and Mobile, AL.
© RoseRita James