Fine Arts Professor At Jesuit Seattle University, Debuts Large Abortion Art Piece

“Since 1998 I have found myself constantly reflecting back on my experience and struggling to make peace with the emotions of sadness, loss, confusion and depression that it has caused,” she said. “Sharing the truth of my experience with others publicly is my catharsis and part of my healing process. Although I went through it alone, I know I am not alone in dealing with the experience.” Kasumi is an assistant professor of fine arts at Seattle University. It might seem, given the Catholic Church views on abortion, that the Jesuit school would not have been receptive to one of its faculty’s tackling such a controversial subject. Yet Kasumi says it was the university that provided initial funding for the years-long project, which included her gathering and painting thousands of lava rocks, each of which she arranges during set-up, making 108 porcelain casts of her hands from complex seven-piece molds she built and blowing yolk and white from several thousand eggs without damaging the shells, a process that itself took about 18 months for her to complete. “Set up is a ritual I have to go through alone,” she said. “When people have an abortion, they go through it alone.” Born and raised in Kyoto, Kasumi’s story is a familiar one. As a college student far away from home, she found herself confronted with a difficult choice and – because of societal taboos – nobody close to her that she could talk to about it. She says that, given the opportunity, she would not make the same decision again, but she added that’s not a judgment on a decision any other woman might make. “My case is my case,” she said, “and their case is their case.” Link to full article (here)