Abstract
About the Artist:
I am an interdisciplinary artist who visually navigates concepts in my work using photography, object making, creative writing, and interactive installation to create thought-provoking imagery and dialogue that challenge the narratives shaping who we choose to be as individuals. I interweave different mediums to narrate a greater contextual story rooted in historical research and familial narratives, aiming to empower people of color to discover themselves and take control of who they choose to be and become. I utilize inclusive methodologies to promote health equity, especially for communities of color, through my artwork.
About the Artwork:
The artworks included in this submission employed inclusive methodologies for disseminating knowledge and challenging narratives and stereotypes that harm, disservice, and keep people of African descent and women from receiving, seeking, and advocating for equitable health care. I am passionate about empowering underserved communities. In my work I highlight the ways in which communities of color are not provided with equitable health care resources, while challenging our realities with opportunities to reimagine what health equity is and can be. I do this by including personal and intimate narratives that complement the art and bring specificity to the subjects of prenatal care, birth outcomes, primary care, health care disparities, and access. This creates a safe space for participants and viewers to see themselves, reflect, and consider their own perspectives to reimagine health equity.
Artistic Statement
I am an interdisciplinary artist who visually navigates concepts in my work using photography, object making, creative writing, and interactive installation to create thought-provoking imagery and dialogue that challenge the narratives shaping who we choose to be as individuals. I interweave different mediums to narrate a greater contextual story rooted in historical research and familial narratives, aiming to empower people of color to discover themselves and take control of who they choose to be and become. I utilize inclusive methodologies to promote health equity, especially for communities of color, through my artwork.
The artworks included in this submission employed inclusive methodologies for disseminating knowledge and challenging narratives and stereotypes that harm, disservice, and keep people of African descent from receiving, seeking, and advocating for equitable health care. I am passionate about empowering underserved communities. In my work, I highlight the ways in which communities of color are not provided with equitable health care resources, while challenging our realities with opportunities to reimagine what health equity is and can be. I do this by including personal and intimate narratives that complement the art and bring specificity to the subjects of birth outcomes, primary care services, health care disparities, and access. This creates a safe space for participants and viewers to see themselves, reflect, and consider their own perspectives.
Contested Ground is an interactive art installation in which I reimagine a woman’s primary care office as safe, soft, and comfortable. This work is based on the Say Study by Doctoral Candidate and Principal Investigator Octavia Vogel, MPH, RN, MS, which examines the disparities in Black women’s health care experiences. I know that one poor experience can snowball into traumatic and potentially catastrophic outcomes. I created this installation to help Black women safely recall memories of previous doctor visits. The installation also educates and collects demographic and qualitative data to further support the Say Study by demonstrating how women felt at these medical offices before and after experiencing this exhibit, as well as illustrating the stereotypes and tropes Black women are subject to in health care environments—factors that ultimately prevent, restrict, and disillusion their trust and reliance on public health resources. This method is more impactful than a white paper or audio-recorded interview because the immersive aspects permit participants to recall more memories while presenting a reimagined perspective of the doctor’s office that originally caused harm as a potential site of healing and reclamation.
The photographic artwork included in this submission is audio photo essays influenced by reproductive justice awareness and gender equity issues. “GTFO” (Get The Fuck Out) and “It Happens” are advocacy artworks that acknowledge birth is not the only outcome of pregnancy. These works reimagine perinatal care more inclusively by considering abortion, miscarriage, and infant fatalities as additional potential outcomes to pregnancy. The work challenges political policies like the loss of Roe v. Wade and the devastating implications of its removal in health care facilities, including the preventable and rising number of maternal deaths in America.
Visual representations of the intimate experiences of Black women and their health experiences are essential aids that contribute to the collective liberation and healing of personal, generational, and ancestral traumas. My artwork is a safe haven for voices to be heard and reflected. An objective in my art practice is to help people of African descent reimagine and recontextualize the contents of their identity in a manner that liberates them from Eurocentric confines and empowers them to be and become the center of their own healing and strength.
Contested Ground
Description
Contested Ground, an interactive art installation, is part of a larger project, The Say Study by Doctoral Candidate and Principal Investigator Octavia Vogel, MPH, RN, MS, which examines Black women’s (anti-) Black health care experiences in Georgia.
This installation is a subverted play on the data collected from these experiences. It is also an opportunity to collect additional data to support the overall study and forthcoming archive. Contested Ground is an invitation to reimagine medical spaces as inviting and comfortable rather than traumatic and unsettling (Fig. 1). More examples of this artwork can be found online at www.stephaniebphotos.com
Contested Ground interactive art installation is part of a larger project, the Say Study, which examines Black women’s (anti-)Black health care experiences in Georgia. This installation is a subverted play on the data collected from these experiences. It is also an opportunity to collect additional data to support the overall study and forthcoming archive. The installation reimagines the traditional doctor office from cold, hard, and sterile to instead fuzzy, fluffy, warm, cozy, and sparkling. This contrast in experience contrasts from most recalled doctor visit experiences which in turn allows study partipants to recall deeper memories associated to their medical experiences.
GTFO
Description
Losing federal support for Roe v. Wade is devastating. States and reproductive rights are in limbo. Our ability to choose how we handle our own reproductive organs is at risk. Those without access are at an even greater risk. Medical professionals are already delaying care, unsure of what is permissible or not in certain states. This work is a public service announcement to America to GTFO of our bodies, uteruses, our futures, and our ability to decide what is best for us. Lives are at risk, and there is already so much blood on America’s hands. We must design and decide what health equity in perinatal care should be (Figs. 2 and 3). More examples of this artwork can be found online at www.stephaniebphotos.com
“GTFO” (Get The Fuck Out) composed photograph of 4 different women, one of which is pregnant. Each woman is holding a letter of the acronym GTFO. The letters combined depict a varation of the United States of America flag dipped in an artifical fluid designed to mimic blood. The articial blood represents menstrual fluid; as well as the past, present, and future lives that are lost without the federal protection of Roe v Wade.
“United Front” is the title of this photograph from the broader series: GTFO. The photograph depics 4 different women, one of which is pregnant, boldly and vulnerably posing without under garments from the waist down. This photographic composition is an act of defiance and acknowledgement of a woman’s self authority.
It Happens
Description
It Happens is an intimate collection of photographs that references hibiscus flowers as a metaphor for infant fatality and miscarriage. One in five pregnancies end in miscarriage. This work is inspired by a collection of personal testimonies received and sourced by women who personally experienced this type of outcome to their pregnancy (Figs. 4 and 5). More examples of this artwork can be found online at www.stephaniebphotos.com
This photograph, as part of the “It Happens” series, represents the one in five pregnancies which end in miscarriage. This body of work uses parts of the hibiscus plant as a metaphor for the fragile lives of infants and unborn fetuses.
This photograph, as part of the “It Happens” series, represents the in utero experience as witnessed through ultrasound.