TRIGGER PLANTING

At Frieze New York, 2022

In collaboration with A.I.R Gallery and National Women’s Liberation

Trigger Planting was created in response to the recently leaked draft opinion by Justice Samuel Alito. In our work, we often use plants to engage with historical abortion practices. For millennia, people have managed fertility healthcare using abortifacients and emmenagogues—or plants that can be used for abortion, miscarriage, contraception, etc. All plants included here have abortifacient or emmenagogue properties. They have been planted on top of each of the 26 states that have either trigger laws, near-total bans, six-week bans or State constitutional amendments to prohibit abortion, all of which would go into effect should Roe v. Wade be overturned.

Plants remind us of time. By including these plants we are gesturing to history, to regeneration, to cultivation, to community. Abortion is essential healthcare; so too is the necessity of autonomy over one’s own body. Limiting, outlawing, and criminalizing abortion will not change these two fundamental truths.

This project was created by Kadambari Baxi, Maureen Connor, Landon Newton in collaboration with A.I.R Gallery and National Women’s Liberation