PORTFOLIO

PROJECTS AND NEWS

June 2010 - US Torture, BP Torture

After a recent conversation with a friend about the oil spill, I designed these logos to describe the connections between corporate power, American politics, war, and greed.

April 2010 - 4000 Years for Choice Celebration Signs

This is my MFA thesis exhibition at the Krannert Art Museum at the University of Illinois - celebration signs! These 44 signs (out of a total of 52 designs) represent activism that celebrates reproductive choices practiced by our ancestors for thousands of years. For more information about this project, visit http://www.4000yearsforchoice.com

April 2010 - Feminist Technology Book Cover

I designed this cover for the book, Feminst Technology, edited by Linda Layne, Sharra Vostral, and Kate Boyer and published by University of Illinois Press. You may purchase a copy at Amazon.com.

February 2010 - Abortion, Morality, and the Liberation of Women Film

Featuring Dr. Susan Wicklund and Sunsara Taylor at Revolution Books in New York City. In collaboration with World Can't Wait, New York, NY

Watch the film on YouTube!

January 2010 - Twelve books of Choice and Life

Produced in a printmaking and bookmaking class to display 12 words in common between both movements, and the unique ways these words are framed. Text is from pro-choice and pro-life protest signs.

January 2010 - 4000 Years for Choice Postcard Project

Visit the 4000 Years for Choice website!

December 2009 - (S)Edition: Print as Activism, Urban Institute for Contemporary Arts, Grand Rapids, MI

Visit the UICA exhibition website!

November 2009 - SOLHOT T-Shirts

In collaboration with Dr. Ruth Nicole Brown, University of Illinois professor and SOLHOT founder.

September 2009 - Everybody! Visual Resistance in Feminist Health Movements, 1969-2009, Ispace Gallery, Chicago, IL

Show curated by Bonnie Fortune. View the Everybody! website.

September 2009 - Defense of Dr. Carhart's clinic during anti-choice protest, Omaha, Nebraska

View more images on Flickr.

September 2009 - Have You Red? and Operation White Out!

Visit the Have You Red? and Operation White Out websites.

These projects were displayed at "A Solo Show: In Sixteen Parts" at the School of Art and Design's Link Gallery at the University of Illinois.

July 2009 - Madrone Midwifery Website

Visit the Madrone Midwifery website!

August 2009 - Buzz Magazine Review

“Another online piece comes from Heather Ault, a UIUC MFA student and can be found at www.wallpaperreproductions.com. Ault’s piece, “Wallpaper Reproductions and Signature Choices,” mimics a website that would sell wallpaper by the roll, but each wallpaper image subtly depicts images of contraceptive measures, such as an herb used the 8th century BCE. Ault emphasized that the idea of women controlling their own reproduction is not something new. “Instead of the stigmatization that women’s reproductive health services lives within, these boutique wallpapers present the practice of controlling one’s own reproduction as a normal part of society,” wrote Ault in an email.” - New exhibit at the I Space shows feminist health movements, Buzz Magazine, Champaign, IL, 9/17/09

May 2009 - Words of Choice Review

"Visual artist Heather Ault has made choice the center of her work in a way that few others do. Her particular area of interest has been visualizing the history of contraception in a series of digital prints called Ancient Choices, subtitled at one gallery show as “remembering the reproductive histories of our ancestors.” - Visual Artist Heather Ault Has Designs on Birth Control, Words of Choice, 5/15/09

March 2009 - Without You I Am Nothing: Cultural Democracy from Providence and Chicago, Green Lantern Gallery, Chicago, IL

Information coming soon!

March 2009 - A Pinch and a Dash: Women and Kitchens, Mills Pond House Gallery, Smithtown Township Arts Council, St. James, NY

Photo provided by Mills Pond House Gallery.

February 2009 - Ancient Choices Posters, Grand Opening, Women’s Resources Center, University of Illinois

Visit the Women's Resources Center website!

February 2009 - Wallpaper Reproductions

Visit the Wallpaper Reproductions website!

January 2009 - And You Think That’s Funny?, Woman Made Gallery, Chicago, IL

Visit the Woman Made Gallery website!

January 2009 - Attended the March for Life in Washington, DC

Documented and interviewed pro-life attendees at the largest annual pro-life march in the country to better understand the anti-choice movement.

December 2008 - Gendering America, Individual Artists of Oklahoma, Oklahoma City, OK

Exhibited three posters from the Ancient Choices series in a juried show.

October 2008 - Pro-choice and Pro-life Messaging Project

Downloaded 160 pro-life and pro-choice images from Flickr to compare and contrast the messages in each movements protest signs.

September 2008 - Ancient Choices, Abortion Politics, Independent Media Center, Urbana, IL

Exhibited a solo show in conjunction with a national tour of films; The Coat Hanger Project and Abortion Democracy. The full set of 14 posters were displayed.

Visit the Independent Media Center website!

August 2008 - Artistic Bent, Metro Times Review

"Heather Ault presents four digital prints from a series called Ancient Choices: Remembering the Reproductive Choices of Our Ancestors, which examines the history of birth control over the past 4,000 years. From ancient Egyptian "spermicidal cervical plugs" ("Crocodile Dung") to the introduction of "the pill" ("For Married Women Only"), Ault's prints are informative yet subversive. The graphics and layout have the feel of vintage advertising posters; they grab your attention. The difference is Ault's reaching for your consciousness instead of your wallet." - Artistic Bent, Gender benders take over Ann Arbor's Gallery Project, Metro Times, Detroit, MI, 8/20/09

August 2008 - Gender Agenda, Gallery Project, Ann Arbor, MI

All four prints were purchased by a collector on the opening day of the show.

View the Gallery Project website!

May - July 2009 - Wanderlust Reproductive Justice Bike Ride

Visit the Wanderlust blog!

April 2008 - Ancient Choices Poster Series

Visit the Ancient Choices website!

April 2003-2008 - History Surveys in Undergraduate Classes

Since 2003, I have surveyed students in undergradate college classes where I've presented my work in order to better understand common misconceptions about contraception and abortion history.

Students were asked the question, "When was contraception invented, and who invented it?"

Some answers included, "Condoms are old, but probably in the 50s. Some white dudes.", "In the late 1800s. By a man." and "Condoms - 60s, Spermicide - 80s (late), Diaphrams - 60s, Sponge - 80s (early)." I found that most students believe contraception is a recent technological invention.

Students were also asked, "When was abortion first used? And why did women seek them?"

Some answers included, "Way back in nomadic tribes when women would use herbs and other natural methods to cause the fetus to abort. To control the population, because they didn't want anymore children.", "In the Middle Ages with the help of alchemy." and "It may have become big in the 60s and 70s but I would bet that abortion has been around as long as people knew how the body works." Overall, students saw abortion as being older. However, many students answered with "I don't know" or a "?".

The false belief that "abortion and contraception are new practices" has become the foundation for my research as an artist, activist, and educator.