The College Fix

 Mops symbolize individuals in ‘domestic spaces and occupations,’ abortion clinic workers

A traveling art exhibit with green, pink, and white mop heads will be on display this fall at the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee to encourage architects to become abortion advocates.

The “Spatializing Reproductive Justice” exhibit displays pieces by students and design studios that consider “how factors like gender, race, class, sexuality and geographic location impact an individual’s ability to access abortion,” Ms. Magazine reports.

The goal is “to spread awareness on how design fields can help increase equity in reproductive healthcare” since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the report states. The 1973 ruling had required states to legalize elective abortion; now, states may ban abortions again.

Columbia University hosted the traveling exhibit in the spring; it will move to UW Milwaukee later this month and be on display through Jan. 1, 2025, according to the report.

The idea for the exhibit began in 2022 during architecture classes at Columbia and Syracuse universities, the report continues:

Curator Lindsay Harkema taught a class entitled “National Care: Abortion Access, Reproductive Justice on Federal Land,” considering how abortion access can be maintained and expanded even in states with abortion bans in place. …

“For architects and designers, it’s important to recognize how the discipline can respond to the current political context around reproductive healthcare and work to enable access to care, despite the ongoing challenges and uncertainty,” said Harkema.

Photos of the exhibit show maps and blueprints that demonstrate “how architects and designers might play a role in preserving and expanding abortion access.”

These include “ideas span from repurposing old train cars into spaces providing healthcare, to considering how federal land could be used in states with abortion bans in place,” according to the report.

The design ideas are interspersed with white, green, and pink mop heads, which symbolize individuals in “domestic spaces and occupations,” as well as “those who work in clinical spaces,” photos of the exhibit show.

Another section of the exhibit pays “homage to the Black women who founded reproductive justice, uplifting reproductive rights as heavily implicated with race, gender, sexuality and class inequities in the U.S.,” the report states.

Artwork and other exhibits promoting abortion have stirred up controversy on college campuses over the years.

In 2014, the University of Michigan hosted a poster exhibit with pieces that described aborting an unborn baby as a “life-sustaining act” and a “gift from God,” The College Fix reported at the time.

In another case, in July, a golden statue of a woman was vandalized at the University of Houston; some described the temporary art exhibit as “satanic” and pro-abortion, The Fix reported.

MORE: University of Michigan Exhibit Celebrates Abortion as ‘Life-Sustaining Act’

IMAGE: Columbia University GSAPP

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