(No) Gods (No) Masters
When Tony Blair  left office, the British Press described Gordon Brown, the new Prime Minister, as “Nobody's Poodle”. This amusing and acerbic phrase made me think “How wonderful not to be manipulated by someone else.”  I had an idea for a poodle with a hand grenade on her tail and decided to do a project with it. When I read Family Limitation, Margaret Sanger’s pamphlet on birth control I knew it was the right image for my Banned & Recovered installation. Written in 1917, the woman who would become the founder of Planned Parenthood believed that “no woman can call herself free until she can choose consciously whether she will or will not be a mother.” Her motto was “No Gods – No Masters” and she resolved, “Women should have knowledge of contraception. They have every right to know about their own bodies." For these beliefs she was denounced, arrested, was in and out of police courts and higher courts, with indictments hanging over her life for years.
Young women today cannot take their civil liberties for granted. They may think they have the right to plan their family to the size they want and can support. They may think that they are as free as men.  They may believe they are “Nobody’s Poodle”. However, these doctrines of privacy and equality for women are imperiled. Nobody's Poodle is facing a panel with nine grenades, each labeled with the name of a Supreme Court justice. Today, we are but one Supreme Court justice from taking these rights away.
(No) God (No) Masters
Length: variable but at least 7’
Height:approximately 7’
Width: variable but approximately 3’ depending on placement       
Materials: Fiberglass, acrylic, steel, plywood, aluminum easel