Auf einem rosa Hintergrund ist in einer ornamentalen Schrift der Titel der Ausstellung
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An Imagination of Bodily Autonomy

An Imagination of Bodily Autonomy is an exhibition project that looks at the way we treat our bodies. The body with which we move through the world not only determines our perception of the world, but also how others perceive us and treat us, and which rights are granted or denied to us.

Only 57% of all women worldwide are able to make self-determined decisions about their sexual and reproductive health, according to the United Nations’ annual State of World Population Report of 2022. The body is thus a crucial site into which patriarchal structures are inscribed. However, not only women, but also queer, trans, BiPoc, and people with disabilities all know what it means to live in this world with a body that deviates from the purported norm.

The long-standing slogan of feminist movements in the struggle for the right to safe and freely accessible abortion, “My Body, My Choice,” serves as the starting point for a subjective, fragmentary investigation of the concept of bodily autonomy. The exhibition bringts together seven artist:s who have reclaimed their bodies performatively, taking up space in this world and are living bodily self-determination already in the present. Between fragility and resilience, this is not an escape from reality, but a self-confident statement: the artists take what is theirs.

For the duration of their exhibition visit, the audience of Galerie im Saalbau enter an alternative space in which they can imagine what it would be like if everyone could decide freely and without restrictions about their bodies.

Accompanying the exhibition we are happy to present a publication, containing the photographic exhibition documentation and work texts in German and English as well as three additional guest contributions, which explore the topic of bodily autonomy in different ways. The guest contributions include texts by Amaranta Gómez Regalado (Mexican Muxe social anthropologist and political activist), Franzis Kabisch (Abortion TV) as well as an interview by Aliza Shvarts with Viva Ruiz (Thank God for Abortions).

Exhibition from April 22 until June 25, 2023

Curated by Nina Marlene Kraus

Participating artists

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