Jenny Holzer responds to Roe v. Wade overturning blisters NFT
To the chagrin of those who believe in autonomous personal health decisions for uterine-bearing individuals, the Supreme Court officially reversed Roe v. Wade this morning, a move that was hinted at by a leaked opinion poll earlier last month. The decision will end federal abortion rights, and leave the legality of the procedure in the hands of state lawmakers – some of whom already have plans to ban abortion immediately. As the need for reproductive resources grows as a result of the ruling, artist Jenny Holzer has released an evocative NFT (non-fungible token) to raise funds for key organizations.
The digital artwork is a screenshot from Tucker Carlson tonight which captures the cruel conservative savvy interviewer of a guest, with the chyron spelling out what takeaway is: “MAKING AN INFORMED CHOICE ABOUT YOUR OWN BODY SHOULD NOT BE CONTROVERSIAL.” They talked naturally enough about vaccine mandates, because Carlson and his entire audience lack a minimum of irony or empathy – they claim to believe in an individual’s ability to make an informed choice about what happens to their own body, just not when it comes to be or remain pregnant.
Twitter user and ACLU employee Gillian Branstetter observed a similarity in the phrasing and the ironic juxtaposition between the chyron text and the art of Jenny Holzer, whose series of Truisms involve a list of principles in plain text. Originally presented as a written document when Holzer began making these works in 1977, they now appear as stand-alone declarative statements, sometimes rendered in neon, on billboards, or in a variety of commodity formats. Relevant past Truisms include the ubiquitous line “ABUSE OF POWER COMES AS NO SURPRISE.”
From Twitter’s lips to Holzer’s ears, Jenny Holzer Studio now presents a screenshot of Branstetter’s viral tweet as an NFT to raise money to support Planned Parenthood, the Center for Reproductive Rights and PAI.
“These statements speak to the anxiety, the humor, the banality, the tragedy and the urgency of modern life,” Holzer said in a statement. “Gillian Branstetter was kind enough to encapsulate the similarities between Carlson’s chyron and mine.”
“We must protect the rights of the individual who protects the health of society,” Holzer said.
