The red cloak and white bonnet of the Handmaids in Margret Atwood’s novel turned TV series has become a symbol, and symbols hold power.
What once was merely a piece of speculative fiction, now paints a narrative frightening close to our current political clime where access to reproductive health care and abortions alike are being limited throughout the United States.
This is not what our mothers and our mothers mothers fought so hard for when Roe vs. Wade was decided.
This is not the future I choose for our daughters or our daughters daughters.
So I fight the with what I have and in the small ways that I can.
As an underwater performer and ARTivist, I decided to create an underwater fanart series with photographer Justin Lutsky conveying my anger over the limitation of abortion rights in the United States.
If you’re looking for a way to take action, please support The American Civil Liberties Union and the Planned Parenthood Action Fund – who among others have vowed to fight back and lawsuits have already been filed in several states.
-------------------------------------------
Art direction & performer: Christine Ren, The Underwater Woman
Photography: Justin Lutsky