Abortion rights and Body Vulnerability Favorite 

The rise in feminism and feminist advocacy has changed history forever in terms of how women are viewed and treated in society. Though great progress has been made, women are still fighting for their rights even today. Abortion and body vulnerability are just two issues that are still being confronted and fought for in the public view.

Following the end of the Franco regime, in July of 1985, a law was passed by the then Socialist government, legalizing abortion in the country of Spain, that only allowed it under very specific circumstances. In 2010 on demand abortion was officially legalized in Spain for up to the 22 weeks of pregnancy. The underlying issue, in this case, is the protection and safety of women’s bodies and women’s choices. Having the legal option to make such a choice for oneself, as well as the available resources, increases the safety of such choices and keeps the separation of lower- and upper-class wealth to a minimum. The fight for abortion also contributes to feminist movements throughout Spain. Feminism has been around since the early 1900s and has gained momentum, growing larger and stronger each year. The rise in feminism has increased in three different ‘waves.’ Throughout the nineteenth century, each wave of women brought a different fight for women, and each fight got more personal. During the first wave, women primarily fought for property rights, political power, as well as opposing the ownership of women by their husbands. By the 1930s, women focused on increasing wages and improving working conditions which then brought rise to the second wave, World War II. The third wave of feminism took place in the late 20th century, where women fought for universal womanhood: the normalcy of body, gender, and sexuality.

María María Acha-Kutscher is a feminist visual artist from Lima Peru but living in Madrid and working globally. I have chosen to focus on Acha-Kutscher because of the message her art is created to express. Her work does not adhere to any particular language or style nor it is identified with specific techniques or formats. Her goal from the beginning was to make her work about women and do so from a feminist perspective because she believes that art is a powerful political tool. Her strategy is to take events that have already passed and reproduced them in a creative way that gives more life to the demonstrations. Her drawings are inspired by the aesthetics of pop art which gives her pieces a rich look, as well as comics, and the political posters of the ’70s. I focused on the drawing that was expressed in an Argentina movement fighting for legal abortion rights. I was drawing to the image’s expression because of the bold colors, rich figures, and powerful message.