Selfish Wom(b)an:
How to disappoint your mother

In “Selfish Wom(b)an: How to disappoint your mother”, Ziegi Boss documents her experience getting a tubal sterilisation procedure involving the removal of her fallopian tubes, thus taking a definitive action in her choice to be child-free. By doing so, she seeks to challenge the assumption that parenthood is a universal desire and disconnect the concept of reproduction and the maternal role from her identity as a woman. Though one would ideally be able to view their body as a private entity, Ziegi Boss aims to explore the ways in which our bodies are subject to public opinion, societal pressures, health policies, and politics.

Ziegi Boss grew up in a conservative religious community, within which women’s perceived value (and assumed happiness) was based on traditional domestic roles within the family, and not wanting children was seen as deviant and unnatural. In which ways is the desire and ability to reproduce tied to cultural notions of worth and “womanliness”? What pressures does this place on highly personal decisions and experiences, both for those who wish to have children and those who do not? This topic is especially relevant as access to reproductive health services is coming under increasing attack in her home country, the US, and other countries. By publicly presenting this documentation of the sterilisation procedure, Ziegi Boss seeks to express how she has perceived her personal decision as always having been under public scrutiny.

Installation from the "Public | Private" group art exhibition

Part of the WEST Open Weekend "IN/BETWEEN: People, Places & Uses"
Organised by VCAS - Vienna Contemporary Art Space
June 16-17th, 2023

Materials: Photographs, fallopian tube and formaldehyde in jar, lab report
2023