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EMBODIED RESISTANCE NAVIGATING BODILY AUTONOMY IN THE NOWBHB press
Bodily Autonomy: e right to make decisions about your own body, life, and future, free from coercion, violence, or government interference.
THERE IS AN URGENT NEED FOR BODILY AUTONOMY IN OUR DAILY LIVES. In response to the evolving polical landscape surrounding bodily autonomy, Embodied Resistance aims to provide a plaorm for women, transgender, and non-binary individuals to reclaim their narraves and share their experiences. The arsts at BHB Press seek to address these social and cultural issues by centering the voices of those most affected, especially in light of ongoing polical debates and legislave threats. As of 2024, legislaon targeng gender-affirming healthcare has surged, with over 100 bills introduced in 2023—more than in the last five years combined. Addionally, approximately 90 new aboron restricons have been enacted naonwide since 2023. In this context, Cuyahoga County arsts and writers were invited to respond to these aempts to control our bodies through the medium they know best: to make. The result is Embodied Resistance, a juried arst book featuring 19 creaves. Through visual art and personal narrave, the featured arsts and writers explore themes of agency, empowerment, and resistance in a post-Roe v. Wade world. We invite you to spend me with this work, fully aware that bodily autonomy is currently not protected as a fundamental right in Ohio or in the United States.
1 JORDI ROWE Agency Flows Freely watercolor “With loss of agency and body autonomy rampant in today’s society, there are few means by which to resist these erosion of our rights. Poetry, specifically Haiku, provides me with an elegant framework with which to express my hurt and my hurt for other potenal child-bearers, since the overturn of Roe Vs. Wade. The poems are on handmade paper wrien in ink in cursive all highlighng the current and past legacy of legal fights for uterine autonomy.”
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ZOE BRESTER-PENNINGS Labor of Love “My work is an exploraon of beauty, and fallibility through an interdisciplinary pracce. Ulizing a performance persona known as Buck Wilde, I seek to create a record of her mythic existence through printed ephemera and autoficon. The desire to simultaneously be seen and unseen is present in the work, the dichotomy of disgust and desire. The work shis between the idealized and the actual and considers the potenal of real and performed femininity, through inmacy and humor.” 3 lithograph
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EMILY DONLEY Inbound “Two of a three-part piece that challenges viewers to explore gender performavity by presenng them with an interacve reflecon of their own gender expression and assumpons about others’. It encourages parcipants to engage with various representaons of gender and to queson it’s bound nature to societal norms; further, it prompts viewers’ introspecon about the fluidity and complexity of gender idenes, extending beyond the binary and “primary”, i.e, essence free from bound constructs.” 6 mixed media sculpture
is world was once lled with my doppelgangers. Plaid-khaki wallower lled with chameleon dreams, an icy drop in the ocean until I surrendered self-sought invisibility for the resplendent quilt of community; stitching heart to heart, hands placed lovingly on shoulders bearing shared traumas and triumphs. Souls collectively polished – shined to sunlight brilliance. But dour years put torches to our fabric – torches held by the dregs of an unresolved century waiting to react. Paisley tears oat up from the corners of our eyes to form clouds that unclear our futures. Bole Rocket 7
Driven indoors by the distant thunder of boots, I am easily startled by my neighbors and begin to think of guns held on the other sides of doors, like whispered threats. But I fought for this body. And if it has to it will die ghting for me and for my found families rather than be returned to the un-life of forced conformity. Souls pressed to supernova Catch your status quo eye but you say we are just reworks and smile at our pretty colors. DANA WILLOW KEIFER “‘Bole Rocket’ looks at the duality of experiencing the trans joy of learning to love your body and finding a community that helps each other achieve self-love while at the same me encountering rising fascist resistance to that same bodily autonomy along with a frustraon at the lack of adequate response from cis people in power.” 8
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HAYLEY MODICA Tony / Stale ink on paper “My life has been a journey through trauma and mental health struggles, capturing moments of pain, healing, and self-discovery through my art. It’s a testament to the power of creavity in processing and healing.” 10
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ALLISON BOGARD HALL Leda / Leda! Aer da Vinci (Ripe and Brutal Fruit) “Over 100 rape-induced pregnancies occur every day in states with restricve aboron bans. Women are dying because they are unable to access the healthcare they need. Motherhood is sacred, and allowing women to choose how and when they become Mothers is the bare minimum that we are asking for. I am a mother by choice, and I do not want my child growing up in a world where women are seen as lesser-than, bodies to be controlled.” 12 monoprint, charcoal, pastel, and acrylic on paper
JANOI DALEY Cooking for my nine-nite “Disrupng and diversifying an instuon not meant for me. Disturbing the flux, my work is made from a realm translated through my own experiences unpacking the phenomenon that is blackness. These painngs are held in me and space, standing in their own dimension, exisng parallel to ours. The environments I depict are created out of need, which makes space for dense emoons, experiences, womanhood, and blackness. Through luscious materials, bold, high chromac colors, and surface details; I am creang a visual language rooted in consciousness of self.” 13 oil on canvas
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OLIVER CHAPMAN “My Pop Art-influenced work renders figures, solo and in pairs, engaged in forms of physical inmacy. These depicons of queer men engaged in such acts demonstrate a range of emoonal and physical connectedness. Overtly sexual behavior and tender moments are not mutually exclusive. By illustrang moments of physical touch and closeness within the queer community, this work makes visible such oen disregarded aspects of what it means to be gay, that even the most casual encounter requires.” Sculpted by Hand 16 acrylic on canvas
SAM R. BUTLER Capitalism wants my body rentable (this one’s in use) “Strung up in a western web is the body it wants me to rent. Am I a tenant to my skeleton? Does gender-affirming care raise the price of my body? Will the longevity of an experience maer if not traced on a doed line?” 17 photography
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I’m tired Of being In your line of re ere’s nothing le of me For you to shoot down e deer have ed To the untouched wilds As have I And it is there at tranquility will envelop me Until I become the Sun at gives life to all But watches you burn Rise, Divine Feminine Karma 19
AUDREY SPUZZILLO “Wring poetry about women’s rights has been a subject I’ve focused on ever since the overruling of Roe v. Wade happened in June 2022. I would never sit silently and let my thoughts go unheard about such a huge mistake this country has made. If you’re a woman, if you love women, and you’re not angry at the state of life: then you’re not paying enough aenon.” 20
EM POOR Feel Free “When I make my painngs and prints, I am my strongest and most connected self. The work flows out of my body in a natural way - freeing my mind, body, and spirit. These artworks help me culvate a world where joy lives and grows.” 21 watercolor on paper
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CELESTE STAUBER I’d like to be a fairy “This marker drawing is from the “Drawing Queer People from Life” sessions hosted by Moo at the Hildebrandt Arst Collecve. I fell in love with figure drawing in college and haven’t been to any sessions unl I learned about the sessions Moo was hosng. The informal and fun vibes that came with celebrang queer bodies and joy has really enriched my arsc pracce. And not to menon the many new meaningful friendships.” 23 marker and graphite on paper
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25 LEO R. COVAULT Harpist Hair cut paper, photograph “Like many other transgender men and transmasculine people I know, as a child I was drawn to stories that center on the framing device “girl dresses up as boy.” I was oen incredibly disappointed by those stories for reasons I was not yet able to fully arculate. In my short comic The Harpist, I adapt a “gender disguise” or “cross-dressing” fairy tale using paper dolls and three dimensional sets to represent the flat characters and intuive worlds of fairy tales. In this page, the character previously known as “The Wife” decides to cut their hair and dress in their husbands clothes to save him. The haircut scene is pivotal in this type of tale because it reflects an abrupt shi from one social role to another. This change is a choice brought on by necessity, but reflects an agency that every person should have.”
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JURNEE TA’ZION Mother, E.N.I.A.S. “Mother, E.N.I.A.S.” is a piece paying homage to the countless African American people, both known by name and forgoen to me, and pung emphasis on the honoring of our Black women and mothers. The acronym E.N.I.A.S. alludes to Boris Gardiner’s song “Every Nigger is a Star”, reflecng the space theme of the piece and the reclamaon of posivity and love for Black people while using a historically negave slur, akin to the meaning of the song. The piece deals with subjects like life and death, birth and miscarriage, slavery and the past/present effects of America’s Trans-Atlanc slave trade, and more. This piece holds a place near and dear to my heart, and it shows the breakthrough of my people throughout me. 28 lithograph
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ALEX HEARD Spikemoar “I am being eaten alive. My whole self will be gone and something else will remain. This work depicts an aggressive yet harmless enty that envelops a host. This character consumes the wearer and projects itself as the new creature of agency. It protects and aacks, and the echo of the wearer wonders how to grow back.” 30 soft sculpture
KENYATTA CRISP Morning Aer “Photographed is a powerful portrayal of vulnerability and authencity embodied by a black woman. The photograph invites viewers into an inmate space where societal constructs of beauty, identy, and self-acceptance are explored with raw honesty. Lying bare and unguarded in her bed, the subject confronts the viewer with an alluring presence, challenging preconceived noons and embracing the essence of selood. Her exposed breast symbolizes both physicality and nurturing, evoking themes of femininity and resilience. The hard shadows and so highlights of the image invites the complexies of womanhood, race, and personal liberaon. Unapologecally black asserng the beauty of her own narrave, transcending societal boundaries and reclaiming her autonomy.” 31 photograph
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JAMES SCHAFFER Into the Light “My work is about the reclamaon of my body and identy through documenng my experiences as transgender. This specific painng depicts the first me I went outside shirtless post-top surgery, and the feeling of euphoria I felt radiang out of me, as luminous as the sunlight on my chest. This painted moment is a snapshot of one of the first moments I finally felt at home and at peace within my own body.” 33 oil on canvas
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We let our candles lean during the candlelight service. We let the wax drip down our palms. It felt good to be stung. Religion was rebirth. Didn’t anyone notice? I repeat myself. It felt good to be stung. e wax was warm and our skin was red. Someone was demanding we remember. I remember red skin and a candlelight darkness. If anyone looked, my face was down. If anyone looked, I let my skin drip skin to the face of someone else. We were wax and wax was religion and it felt good to be stung. I felt my palms open in service. I let my skin repeat. If anyone was looking it didn’t matter. Rebirth was religion and religion was myself. I felt my skin lean into the darkness. I felt the candlelight demanding I repeat myself. I felt my face drip. I repeat myself. It felt good to be stung. In The Darkness I Let My Face Flicker 35
WILLOW CAMPBELL “This piece of flash ficon was wrien under certain constricons that moved me to use words in ways I usually wouldn’t. I chose 50 words only to write a piece that was exactly 200 words long. “In The Darkness I Let My Face Flicker,” explores the weight we place on identy and shared experiences.” 36 In the darkness, I remember myself. I let my face icker. I notice my skin drip and remember someone else. Who is watching? Who is demanding we remember? I repeat myself. In the darkness, wax was religion and religion was anyone. We remember. We let the candles lean.
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AJA JOI GRANT Anastasia / Bri “This work is from a residency completed at ATNSC where I held open studios for my photo series free body, which explores body image, comfort, style and liberaon within the bodies of people within my community. I prompted people to come as comfortable and confident as possible, taking me to relish in a safe space of celebraon and gratude for how far their bodies have carried them. Where there is joy there is resistance, and where there is freedom in our bodies there is respite.” 38 photograph
BHB PRESS IS A COLLECTIVE FOUNDED BY TWO ARTISTS: Allison Bogard Hall (she/her) of Lakewood, Ohio and Sam R. Butler (they/them) of Cleveland, Ohio. This collecve is looking forward to bringing in more arsts and their insights in the future that share our pro-trans, pro-women, pro-bodily autonomy for all vision going forward as we connue to fight oppression in the reality that is our everyday world.
BHB press
EMBODIED RESISTANCE is a juried arst book featuring 19 creaves responding to the urgent need for bodily autonomy in today’s polical landscape. In light of over 100 bills targeng gender-affirming healthcare and more than 90 new aboron restricons enacted since 2023, arsts and writers from Cuyahoga County explore themes of agency, empowerment, and resistance through visual art and personal narraves. This plaorm amplifies the voices of women, transgender, and non-binary individuals reclaiming their stories amid ongoing legislave threats. Aja Joi Grant - Alex Heard - Allison Bogard Hall - Audrey Spuzzillo Celeste Stauber - Dana Willow Kiefer - Em Poor - Emily Donley Hayley Modica - James Schaffer - Janoi Daley - Jordi Rowe - Jurnee Ta’Zion Kenyaa Crisp - Leo R. Covault - Oliver Chapman - Sam R. Butler Willow Campbell - Zoe Brester-Pennings This arst book was curated by the arsts at BHB press, supported by the Urgent Art Fund administered by SPACES and supported by residents of Cuyahoga County and Assembly for the Arts through a public grant from Cuyahoga Arts & Culture.