Sisterhood of silence
“The state acknowledges the right to life of the unborn and, with due regard to the equal right to life of the mother, guarantees its laws to respect, and, as far as practicable, by its laws to defend and vindicate that right.” - Withdraw from the eight amendment.
End of maj 2018, Ireland voted to repeal the eight amendment of its constitution. The eight amendment had since 1983 prohibited woman in Republic of Ireland abortion in any circumstances. The amendment ensured that legislation would be restrained to allowing abortion even when a woman’s life would be at risk because of her pregnancy.
Couple of months before the election I spend some time in a divided Ireland, where pro-life and pro-choice posters covered the country.
I portrayed six woman who had gone through an abortion outside of Ireland. Some chose going abroad alone, not telling anyone because of feelings of shame and fear. Hence, three women chose to participate in this project anonymously.
Exhibited as my graduation project from Nordens Fotoskola, at Galleri Kontrast, Stockholm.
A special thank you to all women, for sharing your stories with me.
“The 8th amendment chose the heartbeat of my severely deformed baby, who was never going to survive, over my own personal and mental health”
“My dad provided the funds for the procedure, which had to be arranged with two days notice due to my stage of pregnancy. We needed 2500 Euro for flights and the procedure. I was very lucky that my dad could help me”
“Total shock and very stressed. A feeling of helplessness and disconnection with my own body”.
“I do think about... I do wonder what if... I’m normal I’m kind and I’m human... but I believe with all my heart I made the right choice.”
“Having someone to talk to in a non judgemental way would have helped a lot. Being made to feel like a criminal had a hugely negative effect on myself as a human being who wanted to do the right things in life for myself , my family and humanity as a whole”
“I was frightened and distraught, I knew I was going to have to make an extremely difficult decision and there was nobody I could talk to about it”
