Editor’s note: This story was co-published and supported by the journalism non-profit the Economic Hardship Reporting Project (EHRP). Diana Weymar’s stitched quotes are taken from reproductive justice reporting by EHRP journalists, co-published by EHRP and The Guardian, Literary Hub, Teen Vogue, and In These Times.
When I was a girl, my aunt would bring home flower-printed handkerchiefs as a present for me from her European vacations. I still have a few tucked away in a drawer — so sweet, so delicate, so full of nostalgia I can’t bring myself to use them. I have a small collection of vintage printed or embroidered hand towels and tea towels, too … It’s so feminine to make something lovely and fanciful out of something practical, meant to be used, dirtied, stained, and discarded.
Diana Weymar’s abortion embroideries play on the same duality: there’s woman as charming lady, plying her needle, and woman as, well, woman, with her secret life of blood, womb, vagina. These creatures would seem to have nothing to do with each other, but of course, they are the same person.
“Subversive” is a much over-used word in the art world, but there’s definitely subversion at work when a flowered hankie is embroidered “pro-life is pro-death” or “Abortion is about a patient’s hopes and dreams and how they want to be in the world.” It reminds me of all the seemingly conventional women I’ve met who would tell me about their abortions and then say they’d never told anyone. There are a lot of untold stories hiding in those hankies, a lot of private courage in women who seem demure and obedient. Let’s hope they surprise us on Election Day! —Katha Pollitt
