Staff Writer Zora Day-Friedland attended a tour of Trigger Planting 2.0, an exhibition currently on view in the Milstein Center lobby.

Before attending the Trigger Planting 2.0 tour, I had walked past the exhibition numerous times without stopping to look. That changed this past Friday when I joined Professor Kadambari Baxi and Director of Milstein Exhibitions Miriam Neptune for a tour.  

Opened on October 9, Trigger Planting 2.0 is an exhibition that builds a portrait of reproductive rights in the U.S. since the historic Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization case that took away the right to abortion in 2022. The center artwork that faces the entrance is a map of the state’s color coordinated by abortion access, with bright red representing most restricted and light blue least restricted. Slips of paper attached to the work explain measures on recent ballots relating to abortion access. The artists are continuing to add to the piece as laws change.

While not initially obvious, the exhibition’s connection to the natural world is a driving force. As I walked around the artwork, Professor Baxi explained that the plants hanging from the shelves behind the main work are ones historically used for reproductive management. Next to each suspended plant was a description of its habitat and medicinal uses. Another contributor to the exhibition pointed out that these herbs are often portrayed as dangerous in the media, but that this belief is mostly the result of a loss—or even erasure—of the knowledge surrounding them. The theme of erasure is echoed by photos of Jackson’s Women’s Health Organization, the clinic from the 2022 Supreme Court case, being demolished and turned into a department store.

Under the herbs were small stacks of books covering topics related to the exhibition. Although most were contemporary, they ranged in subject matter. On one shelf was a zine created by the Reproductive Justice Collective, a campus organization that fights for reproductive healthcare both on and off campus.

We moved to a screen showing two types of maps, situated on one side of the main artwork. It flashed to show red squares sprawling across the maps, highlighting where one of the herbs grows. Professor Baxi explained that the lower map comes from iNaturalist, a crowdsourced app, and the one above from a biological atlas. Baxi notes that the significance of having two different maps is that they represent different sources of information, not unlike the different sources of information available in the book selection.

The faint background of the main artwork was an image taken from yet another part of the exhibition, the herb garden. Although currently frozen over, the garden is placed right outside the Diana Center and houses several different herbs used for reproductive management.

The last part of the exhibition lay on the other side of the stairs directly across from the Design Center. Several posters featuring information about reproductive justice advocates and activists were presented on well-organized boards. These boards were the work of students in “Abortion in Context,” a one-time course that took place Spring 2024. Neptune explained that these posters were included in an effort to make the exhibition feel more connected to the student body, and emphasized the importance of this collaborative aspect of the exhibition. 

Trigger Planting 2.0 is an incredibly powerful, topical and undeniably important exhibition. More than that, it is a testament to the artists, contributors and to Barnard community’s effortto illuminate and explore the problems around them. The exhibition is on display through September, with another tour on Saturday, February 15. Additionally, Columbia Journalism School is hosting Abortion in Data and Reporting, an event corresponding to the exhibition, taking place on Wednesday, January 30.  

All photos via Bwog Staff