Diana Mara Henry's Photography and Progressive Activism
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Hanging carcass in butcher shop, ca. 1969. In the photographer, a butcher in Boston’s North End gazes past a hanging carcass to the misogynistic poster of a pretty nude woman whose body is marked to be cut into parts by a chain saw, photographed for a slide show to accompany the play “Good Soldier Schweik.”
Description from Special Collections & University Archives at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.
Copyright © Diana Mara Henry/dianamarahenry.com
Photography is a powerful tool for progressive movements. During the Civil Rights movement in the 1950s and 1960s, activists used photography to display a more accurate representation of the movement than the media could. The ACT UP movement—whose goal was to bring awareness and attention to the AIDS crisis during the 1980s and 1990s—also produced their own images to convey the importance of their mission. Photography has similarly been employed in recent years for climate activism; artists use photography to exhibit the effects of climate change in our environment and as a call to action against the climate crisis.
After attending the abortion rights protest, I showed the photo of the bright green sign to my mom. Her research at the time focused on the ways that Jews in the past have been involved with pro-choice activism. This protest marked a period of immense change with legislation about women’s rights, and this photo is a snapshot of that. Someday in the future, some historian—like my mom—who is researching reproductive rights advocacy during the overturning of Roe v. Wade could look at my photo as a display of Jewish involvement in pro-choice activism.
Through the pictures I took of the protest against the Supreme Court decision which overturned Roe v. Wade, I used photography as a way to exhibit women’s rights issues, just like Diana Mara Henry and many other activists did. The picture I took of the “Jews for Abortion Justice” sign documents the intersection of feminism and Judaism, as showcased in both Diana Mara Henry’s work and my own. Inspired by Henry’s legacy, I look forward to developing my skills and continuing to use photography in the service of social change.
This piece was written as part of JWA’s Rising Voices Fellowship.
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