“Christen Clifford leads a new wave of Feminist Performance Art”
Cancer: A Love Story
AN AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL DOCUMENTARY BY CHRISTEN CLIFFORD.
Cancer: A Love Story is an autobiographical documentary about battling gynecological cancers, confronting sexual assault, and documenting the crazy things I did to heal myself. It’s a survival story, but also a story of mothers and daughters, and the intimacies of women’s bodies. More at canceralovestory.com.
“provocative, humorous and potent”
“Editor’s Pick”
Interiors: We Are All Pink Inside
Interiors: We Are All Pink Inside is a multifaceted project that includes video, installation, and photography. What is a portrait? What does it mean to invite someone inside of you? More at weareallpinkinside.com.
HYPERALLERGIC | Opening Up the White Cube, Alexis Clements, February 18, 2019
In an age in which the need to better understand the nature and meaning of consent is clearer than ever, being invited to experience the insides of strangers' intimate anatomy is both humorous and potent. Art galleries are spaces where the powerful do-not-touch rule is more often observed than spoken and unspoken rules not to touch women's bodies, or anyone's anything, for that matter, without permission.
ARTFORUM | Critic’s Pick, February 2019
Christen Clifford's sculpture WE ARE ALL PINK INSIDE: Interiors, 2018, resembles a halved tent. Its soft-pink video projections of corporeal interiors and smooth surfaces offer fleeting respite. Those who crawl inside might feel momentarily secure, but they remain exposed—to the rest of the gallery, yes, but also to themselves, as their reflections are distorted in the work's Plexiglas sheets.
The first Interiors project was The PussyBow : a Feminist Public Action Disguised as a Fashion Accessory. Bustle named the PussyBow one of the "7 Most Feminist Moments In The Fashion Of 2015,” and it has garnered attention from Refinery 29, Huffington Post US, Huffington Post UK, Metro UK, Mashable, WifeyTV, Daily Dot, the New York Times, Mic, Your Tango, MTV News, and Nylon. Each Pussy Bow is printed on %100 silk and hand sewn by Christen’s friend, Cassy. Dimensions vary slightly. 10% of all proceeds were donated to Planned Parenthood.
50 Years since Roe: A Convening on Reproductive Justice at the Brooklyn Museum, January 2023. Interiors: We Are All Pink Inside video, beanbags, pillows and chairs featured in the Forum at the Center for Feminist Art. Wildcat Ebony Brown, Christen Clifford, Lydia Nobles, Amy Khoshbin, Rebecca Goyette, Cassandra Neyenesch, Dr. Carolina Franco.
I Want Your Blood
I Want Your Blood is Part 3 of 1WantYour3lood, a three part ongoing project focusing on bodily autonomy and body politics, using the menstrual blood of humans of all genders. Installation view from Abortion is Normal, curated by Rebecca Jampol and Jasmine Wahi in 2020 at Eva Presenhuber. Photo by Coke O’Neal.
ARTFORUM | Weapon Of Choice, Wendy Vogel on Art and Abortion, March 13, 2020
“One of the most visceral works in "Abortion is Normal," Christen Clifford's installation I Want Your Blood, 2013-20, Displays menstrual fluid collected by various participants, which the artist decanted into tiny vintage perfume vials. Clifford seeks to undo the stigma attached to menstruation, which is linked to fears and taboos around miscarriage and abortion. "There's no equality without reproductive rights," she said. "There's no reproductive rights without knowledge of the female body, and there's no knowledge of the female body without knowledge of blood."
HYPERALLERGIC | 50 Artists Remind Us That “Abortion Is Normal,” Marisa Crawford, January 24, 2020
“Composed of miniature perfume bottles filled with decanted period blood that the artist collected from menstruating people of all genders, Christen Clifford’s installation “I Want Your Blood” (2013–2019) juxtaposes the trappings of traditional feminine desirability with the often hidden (and shamed) bodily experience of menstruation. The blood used in Clifford’s work, as well as in Portia Munson’s “Menstrual Prints” (1993) series also highlights the arbitrary framing of abortion as an ending of life, since each menstrual period involves the shedding of uterine lining, which contains an egg that could have been fertilized and led to pregnancy.”
Society of the Speculum
Society of the Speculum was a feminist art punk band featuring (L to R) Dana May Schwister, Christen Clifford, Cassandra Neyenesch, and Carolina Frankko. Post performance at ABC No Rio, 2018.
The Menstrual Symphony
The Menstrual Symphony was the 2nd part of 1WantYour3lood, a three part project that included the collection of menstrual blood from humans of all genders in Part 1, and the exhibition of the collected blood in mini perfume bottles as an installation in Part 3. The Menstrual Symphony was performed at Grace Exhibition Space in 2015.