Yale Student Induces Miscarriages For "Art"
Only a week ago, if someone had asked you your opinion on Aliza Shvarts, the most likely response would be an odd look and the question “What are you talking about?”. Today, that is not the case.
On April 17, 2008, the Yale Daily News printed an article detailing the senior art project of the aforementioned Aliza Shvarts, an art student at the university. Shvarts’ project consisted of impregnating herself as many times as possible during the course of nine months, then taking abortifacient drugs to induce miscarriages. At the exhibition of the project, video recordings of the forced miscarriages along with preserved blood from the process were allegedly displayed. Shvarts stated that the intention of the project was to trigger debate between the relationship between the human body and art.
"I believe strongly that art should be a medium for politics and ideologies, not just a commodity," Shvarts explained. "I think that I'm creating a project that lives up to the standard of what art is supposed to be."
Obviously, this project has gained much criticism and controversy, most notably from Wanda Franz, president of the National Right to Life Committee, who declared that Shvarts a serial killer with “major mental problems”, and compared the project to Nazi experiments during the Holocaust.
However, only several hours after the initial story broke and garnered widespread criticism, Yale College issued a press release explaining that the miscarriages and the exhibition were performance art. A spokesperson for the university admitted that instead of evidence of miscarriages, the project consisted solely of the invention of the story. "Ms. Shvarts is engaged in performance art," the press release stated. "Her art project includes visual representations, a press release and other narrative materials. She stated to three senior Yale University officials today, including two deans, 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."
