Sewing Circle with Michelle Hartney
Fri, Mar 10, 5:30–7:30pm

In 1928, Margaret Sanger received letters from mothers asking for help to prevent unwanted pregnancies. Led by Hartney, this sewing circle sews select letters from Sanger’s collection Motherhood in Bondage.

March 10th marks the 30th anniversary of the death of Dr. David Gunn, the first obstetrician who was murdered by an anti-abortion protestor. Dr Gunn traveled thousands of miles each month to provide abortions to underserved communities in the south. His daughter Wendy volunteered to hand write one of the letters that will be sewn during this event, and when the piece is completed it will be dedicated to Dr. Gunn.

The artist will supply kits during the sewing circle. All events are a safe space for community dialog around reproductive rights.

About the Exhibition For Those Without Choice:

Our 2023 partnerships are important and timely, beginning with an exhibition in partnership with Planned Parenthood of Illinois.

In 2016, Weinberg/Newton Gallery hosted an exhibition entitled Your body is a battleground in support of reproductive rights and a pro-choice Illinois. Installed at our previous location, the building’s management forced the gallery to remove Aleksandra Mir’s text-based artwork Keep Abortion Legal from outward-facing windows along Superior Street in River North. In alternating baby blue and soft pink letters, the statement was deemed unrepresentative of building management and all tenants.

Seven years later the rollback of Roe v. Wade by the Supreme Court of the United States of America through the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization ruling has taken away the constitutional right to an abortion. For Those Without Choice is dedicated to those impacted by laws that manipulate personal decision-making by controlling and criminalizing medical access to reproductive-related procedures.

New and established pro-choice voices come together in overwhelming support and demand for reproductive rights. Mir is no longer alone in presenting art that directly addresses abortion, and there is consensus amongst the group: Abortion is Freedom. Abortion is Healthcare. Abortion is Normal. Abortion is NOT a Crime. Keep Abortion Legal.

Aleksandra Mir
Angela Davis Fagan
Catherine Sullivan
Cathy Hsiao
Claire Ashley
D Rosen
Ellen Rothenberg
Guerilla Girls Broadband
Gwyneth Anderson
Hope Esser
Iris Bernblum
Jenny Polak
Judith Brotman
Julia Klein
Katrina Majkut
L Vinebaum
Maria Robinson and Sayward Schoonmaker
Martha Poggioli
Marzena Abrahamik
Maymay Jumsai
Michelle Pred
Shout Your Abortion
Stacee Kalmanovsky
Udita Upadhyaya
Wildcat Ebony Brown

Image: Aleksandra Mir, Keep Abortion Legal

Official Website

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Tags: Aleksandra Mir, Angela Davis Fagan, Catherine Sullivan, Cathy Hsiao, Chicago, Claire Ashley, D Rosen, Ellen Rothenberg, For Those Without Choice, Gwyneth Anderson, Hope Esser, Iris Bernblum, Jenny Polak, Judith Brotman, Julia Klein, Katrina Majkut, L Vinebaum, Maria Robinson, Martha Poggioli, Marzena Abrahamik, Maymay Jumsai, Michelle Pred, Sayward Schoonmaker, Sewing Circle with Michelle Hartney, Stacee Kalmanovsky, Udita Upadhyaya, Weinberg Newton Gallery, West Town, Wildcat Ebony Brown