Enovid
Enovid. Oil on plexiglass & wood. 20"x 72." February 2009
This is a mixed-media structure built from layers of painted plexiglass. Through the center runs a pillar of soil, and emerging from it are pills. The piece addresses the unethical birth control experiments conducted on Puerto Rican women.
In 1956, the first large-scale trials of Enovid (the world’s first birth control pill) began in the impoverished farming community of Río Piedras, Puerto Rico. The women participating were never informed they were part of an experiment. The pills contained three times the hormone levels considered safe today. Many suffered severe side effects, and at least three healthy women died during the trials, deaths that were never properly investigated.
These experiments were rooted in U.S. policies shaped by eugenics ideology, which framed Puerto Rico’s population as something that needed to be “controlled.” This thinking led to the forced and coerced sterilization of approximately one-third of Puerto Rican women, one of the most devastating and under-acknowledged human rights violations in our history. (I created another artwork specifically addressing this chapter as well.)
This is why symbolism matters. This is why history matters. And this is why representation on global stages matters. Our stories are layered, complex, painful, and powerful. They deserve to be told honestly and with care, so that we may learn from our pasts and we move into the future.
Hope you’ll stay tuned as I continue to share more work and history. There is so much more to learn, remember, and honor.
In 1956, the first large-scale trials of Enovid (the world’s first birth control pill) began in the impoverished farming community of Río Piedras, Puerto Rico. The women participating were never informed they were part of an experiment. The pills contained three times the hormone levels considered safe today. Many suffered severe side effects, and at least three healthy women died during the trials, deaths that were never properly investigated.
These experiments were rooted in U.S. policies shaped by eugenics ideology, which framed Puerto Rico’s population as something that needed to be “controlled.” This thinking led to the forced and coerced sterilization of approximately one-third of Puerto Rican women, one of the most devastating and under-acknowledged human rights violations in our history. (I created another artwork specifically addressing this chapter as well.)
This is why symbolism matters. This is why history matters. And this is why representation on global stages matters. Our stories are layered, complex, painful, and powerful. They deserve to be told honestly and with care, so that we may learn from our pasts and we move into the future.
Hope you’ll stay tuned as I continue to share more work and history. There is so much more to learn, remember, and honor.
Comments
I love love love this piece, thanks for opening my eyes to more of the history of PR, especially for women.