Original artwork description:

40 x 80 cm - London city map and bank note on canvas - 2019

This painting is one of the most personal because it tells a true story that happened to my grandmother, and probably thousands of other women.
In the 1970s, my grandmother, who did not speak a word of English, took her courage, but also the train, then the ferry, to go to London to have an abortion. Doors slam and close, enormous sums are asked of him. Finally, someone took her under their wing, taking her to a clinic that finally took care of her. But before all that, she also had to confront a doctor in France who wanted to abuse her, given her situation. Sleep to abort.

So I called my grandmother to tell her that I would do, with her approval, a painting inspired by her story. She eagerly accepted and it was she who even found the title: her name, the date. Crying on the phone, she tells me again that she still doesn't know how she managed to go to London alone, to do all that.
And when I show the painting to my mother, she tells me that my other grandmother did the same thing.

Claudine, 1972 therefore recounts the struggle of all these women to dispose of their bodies and reminds us that this fact is not completely acquired either. Even today, in 2019, doctors refuse to apply the law and perform abortions.

Materials used:

Collage and acrylic on canvas

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