‘Body Freedom for Every(Body)’
After an impactful four-month cross-country tour spanning over 10 cities, Project for Empty Space will present the “Body Freedom for Every(Body)” 2024 tour exhibition at their 800 Broad Street location in Newark, presenting all 100+ works from the rotating exhibition at the same time for the first time. The exhibition opens Saturday, February 15, at 3 pm, as a kickoff to a day of art and activity presented by PES in the City of Newark.
The mobile exhibition truck traveled coast-to-coast, nearly 10,000 miles, wrapped in an original artwork by Barbara Kruger, Your Body Is A Battleground, which first debuted at the 1989 Women’s March on Washington. Coinciding with the 2024 election, the tour included twenty stops across New York City, New Jersey, Washington, DC, Iowa, Missouri, California, New Mexico, Texas, and Florida, with thousands of people boarding the truck and hundreds of thousands viewing it in transit.
“Body Freedom for Every(Body)” is an ongoing celebration of intersecting issues pertaining to bodily autonomy, such as reproductive justice, queer liberation, and trans joy. The now multi-part endeavor (the traveling exhibition on wheels, the accessible digital database, and the latest static exhibition) addresses the importance of agency, autonomy, and choice when it comes to healthcare and individual identity.
The campaign emerged as a response to a relentless wave of conservatism that continues to politicize queer liberation and restrict reproductive and gender-arming healthcare. The overarching objective of this program is broadening awareness of the right to safe, legal, and accessible health care that allows people to live in their power and choice.
“Now more than ever, we believe this work is essential, and we will keep using our mobile exhibition space as a vehicle for nationwide community-building,” Rebecca Pauline Jampol, and Jasmine Wahi, Co-Creators, “Body Freedom for Every(Body),” said. “By sharing the experiences from the past year, we hope to reinforce the importance of celebrating one another alongside the fight for autonomy and healthcare. Body Freedom is an issue that impacts Every. Single. Person. We are so thankful to the artists and collaborators who joined us this past year and made the work possible.”
Visitors can anticipate exploring a variety of ideation materials, along with photo and video documentation and data collected from artist Caroline Sinder’s project, A Series of Choices, which invites viewers to reflect on their experiences with reproductive healthcare. The exhibition will also include interactive elements from the original truck, such as the Reading Nook, located at the back of the space. This nook features immersive wallpaper by artist Ron Northworthy and offers a collection of artist books, zines, and printed materials.
About Project for Empty Space
Project for Empty Space is a multifaceted arts organization that includes Exhibitions, Artists Residencies, Public Art initiatives, subsidized Artist Studios, and Artist Professional Development/Granting opportunities. Our programs lean social discourse, including narratives that have been historically and systemically erased. We strive to course correct historic instances of forced marginality, in-equity, and in-visibility. Today, in our efforts to support socially-oriented artists, we maintain a commitment to holding space for both looking back and looking to new potentials and futures.
PES is a woman-run, femme-powered, People of the Global Majority/BIPOC, Queer, and unapologetically Intersectional organization.
Our permanent homes are in Newark, NJ, and Chinatown, New York City.
