We are thrilled to be launching a collaboration with Michele Pred, based on her neon piece, "Love as Activism". We first met Michele with her collaborator Autumn Breon at Art Basel in 2021 where they we exhibiting their Art of Equal Pay project; an initiative to confront and combat the racial and gender pay gaps for visual artists. It was a chance meeting, but a great introduction to the work.
We have been following their work since then and with the overturning of Roe v Wade we watched some amazing activist art pieces come to life. During 2022's Art Basel:
"Michele Pred enacted an iteration of her Abortion Is A Human Right, a large-scale sand drawing of two abortion pills, on the shore of Miami Beach. The works, 20 ft and 25 ft in width, depicted misoprostol and mifepristone medicines. She was joined on the beach by a group of collaborators and supporters, including Nadya Tolokonnikova of Pussy Riot.
Pred invited viewers to write “Abortion is a Human Right” in giant letters alongside the work. Despite most Americans being in favour of abortion, the procedure has been largely outlawed in many states—including Florida—and legislation has restricted critical access in many more. Pills are now used for more than half of all abortions, a sign that reproductive health equity remains urgently needed.
Pred has always engaged in explicitly political topics, in particular in response to the US Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v Wade. Last month [prior to the last election in October, 2022], she curated 14 pro-abortion billboards erected in states that restrict the procedure. “I had a strong urge to respond on a national scale,” Pred tells The Art Newspaper. “And billboards are one of the best forms of public art because they’re viewable to so many people in so many places” The Art Newspaper
As the images of the pieces continued to pop up on social media we thought something was definitely going to be perfect to bring to Provincetown.
Michele Pred, Abortion is Healthcare, 2023, Inflatable Installation
at Weinberg/Newton Gallery, For Those Without Choice
FOR THOSE WITHOUT CHOICE
IN PARTNERSHIP WITH PLANNED PARENTHOOD OF ILLINOIS
JAN 20 – APR 15, 2023
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.
— Nabiha Khan-Giordano, Director, Weinberg/Newton Gallery
As we're putting together this blog post we just realized we are also printing Aleksandra Mir's Keep Abortion Legal mentioned in the show notes above.
When we caught the below Instagram post announcing an Artist Panel at Hofstra University and learned it was Michele's neon piece titled Love as Activism, 2021 that was featured, we felt we'd found the perfect graphic collaboration.
When We All Stand
January 31 - July 28, 2023
Emily Lowe Gallery, Hofstra University
The exhibition, When We All Stand, focuses on the collective power of the arts to address complex issues in society and demonstrates the ability of art and artists to chart a path for social change. Artists often lead the charge and expose truths that may otherwise be ignored. The artists in this exhibition take a stand and call out injustices through their art and activism on issues such as immigration, gender, reproductive rights, mass incarceration, voting rights, racial bias, gun violence, and promises unfulfilled. They take action by creating national campaigns for justice, organizing public art protests, connecting with their local community, or joining forces with national organizations. Some make demands on government, politicians, policies, or institutions while others make demands on society and individuals to join them in the fight for justice; still others focus on cultural development as a process that cultivates democracy and unity. They all combine the making of art with public service that has a grassroots approach in the hope of mobilizing their communities and the nation to ignite movement, create awareness, and inspire others to stand with them. Artists included in the exhibition are Emma Amos, Molly Crabapple and the Equal Justice Initiative, For Freedoms, Miguel Luciano, Michele Pred, Hank Willis Thomas, and Sophia Victor.
We are thrilled to launch a collection of items available for preorder and to direct 10% of the proceeds to
Indivisible; "
a grassroots movement of thousands of local Indivisible groups with a mission to elect progressive leaders, rebuild our democracy, and defeat the Trump agenda." A reminder of spreading love and "we the people"; Democracy is not a spectator sport and this collaboration represents so much of what Adam's Nest is about.
"We believe in love, equality, justice, and freedom. We live by the "golden rule" and we aim to espouse this in everything that we do. Live and let live is the idea we hold in the highest regard. We aspire to be the change."
With a ton of gratitude for Michele's partnership and all that she is doing to "make good trouble" and help make change happen.
Abortion Is A Human Right
Michele Pred
United Nations Headquarters, New York
International Women's Day
March 8, 2023
