A timely traveling exhibition that champions bodily autonomy made its presence known Saturday in Houston as the topic was still fresh on the minds of many at the end of an election week. 

Project For Empty Space, an “unapologetically radical” arts nonprofit organization based in New Jersey and New York, recently presented its Body Freedom for Every(body) cross-country exhibition tour featuring the work of more than 100 artists inside a 27-foot box truck at Project Row Houses in Houston’s Third Ward. 

With a focus on intersecting themes of reproductive justice, queer liberation and trans joy, the exhibition aimed to reinforce community, create safe spaces and awareness, and cultivate joy through contemporary art. The truck also featured a space to record “Truck Talks,” a series of digital monologues and dialogues reflecting on body freedoms and the importance of agency, autonomy, and choice, that will eventually become an oral history archive in 2025.

The exterior of the truck featured a custom wrapping designed by Barbara Kruger including her revered phrase “Your Body Is A Battleground,” which she created in 1989 for the Women’s March on Washington after a string of anti-abortion laws began to undermine Roe v. Wade. Organizers said the overarching message of the program is to broaden awareness of the right to safe, legal, and accessible health care that allows people to live in their power and choice.

Houston’s stop Saturday at PRH was part of its inaugural Social Sculpture Series, and the ninth stop of 13 on a nationwide tour that began Sept. 4 at Times Square in New York City and will end on Dec. 10 in Miami Beach, Florida. The tour also previously made a stop in Austin from Nov. 1 through 5.

More than 100 Houstonians attended from noon to 4 p.m. to check out the bodily autonomy exhibition, which featured work from local artists Ann Johnson, Lovie Olivia, Preetika Rajgariah. Attendees also had the opportunity to enjoy chalk drawing, listen to music from DJ Mocha Loca, play dominoes, explore offerings from University of Houston’s N20 Car Club, participate in a free figure drawing workshop in partnership with Art League Houston or visit PRH’s current public art installation: Round 57: Southern Survey Biennial II, on display until Feb. 9, 2025. 

Rebecca Pauline Jampol, co-director of Project for Empty Space and co-creator of Body Freedom for Everybody, said the program began in 2019 with a series of emergency exhibitions in the tri-state area (greater New York City area, made up of New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut) under the title “Abortion Is Normal” to cultivate community dialogue about the threat of the reversal of Roe V. Wade and the effects if abortion were criminalized. But the pandemic in 2020 stalled their effort and forced them to focus on sustaining the organization rather than programming. 

“But the thought never left our mind,” Jampol said. 

Strategically aligning with this year’s presidential election, Jampol and her business partner, Jasmine Wahi, said they felt it was the perfect time to relaunch the program but take it on the road nationwide to steer conversations around candidates and reproductive rights — a topic that was on the ballot in several states and one of the pillars of Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign. 

“This past week has been a tough week on everybody,” Jampol said on the results of the election. 

While disappointed by the outcome, Jampol said that it reaffirmed the importance of their cause. 

“I think more than ever now we understand that we have to continue this work into the next four years,” Jampol said. 

Johnson, who knew Wahi and helped orchestrate the truck stop in Houston at PRH, had a piece in the exhibition called “Fertility” that focused on the history of gynecology and the butchering of Black women’s bodies inspired by a controversial 1850 photo commissioned by Harvard University of a Black slave family stripped naked to the waist. Johnson printed that image on gauze in an orange-red color that resembles dry blood, and an Akuba doll, or African fertility doll, wrapped in gauze and encased in dried wood. 

“The way that the young woman looks at you that just breaks your heart because she’s so powerless,” Johnson said. “I decided that (the) narrative of not having control of self or your body worked well with this show.”  

“What they’re doing on the truck is so amazing and needs to be seen,” said Johnson, who also teaches art at Prairie View A&M University.

“As Toni Morrison says, ‘This is the time an artist goes to work.’ Because it was created before the election, it’s still such an important issue when it comes to a woman’s right for the health of her own body, trans rights and there’s just so many different boxes that were checked on this exhibition.”

Cydney Pickens, Project Row Houses curator and program manager who launched the new family-friendly, monthly, artist-led Social Sculpture Saturdays, said she hadn’t heard of Project Empty Space or the exhibition, but was sold when Johnson recommended it. In addition to the timeliness of the exhibition, she also loved how accessible it was to the community since it was free and mobile. It also aligned with the intent of its Social Sculpture Saturdays: to cultivate a safe space where the community can hang out and feel at ease. 

PRH intentionally set up the Body Freedom truck by the front door and the side gate because those are the two frequent points of entry, Pickens said. She noticed some people who had never visited PRH before but were drawn in by what they saw, along with others who were regular visitors and might not have attended this exhibition if it had been held elsewhere.

“It really encouraged some conversations that may not have happened had we had other events going on,” Pickens said. “Having a place where you can talk about your emotions and feelings with other people is probably what was the attraction.” 

Johnson said she noticed a young woman leave the truck emotional and in tears, something that she’s seen before with this piece.

“People are still reeling from and talking about the election,” she said. “I think that was a great release for a lot of people. There’s still anxiety in the air and it should be. Art is the great escape. Somebody else is feeling like you’re feeling they have just presented it in a different way.”

Although Project For Empty Space is based in New Jersey and New York, states that have codified the right to an abortion, Jampol said they still feel the ripple effect and wanted to step outside of their bubble to cultivate community. 

“Something that felt really imperative to us was to break out of our tri-state bubble and to take this type of programming on the road and actually go to the people,” she said. “We have to find ways to do so which can feel supportive and [provide] safety on wheels to our communities.” 

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