Contemporary Mural Art, Personhood, and Utopic Visions of Reproductive Justice
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
Winter 2026
Abstract
This essay argued that, in the post-Dobbs era, reproductive justice-themed mural art serves a memorializing function as well as a site of utopic imagining in a time of declining access to reproductive healthcare. The author has used personal experience as a clinic escort to ground a visual rhetorical analysis of three reproductive justice-themed murals across the United States. The essay has identified recurring aesthetic elements in the murals’ compositions, including the female gaze, flowers in bloom, haloes, bold directional symbols, and affirming text. Drawing on reproductive justice scholarship and feminist rhetorical theories of place, the author argued that these aesthetic elements counter fetal personhood rhetoric and assert reproductive justice principles.
DOI
10.37514/PEI-J.2026.28.2.17
Publication Information
Swiencicki, Jill (2026). "Contemporary Mural Art, Personhood, and Utopic Visions of Reproductive Justice." Peitho: Journal of the Coalition of Feminist Scholars in the History of Rhetoric 28.2.
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