Tabita RezaireSugar Walls Teardom, 2016
‘Sugar Walls Teardom’ explores the contributions of Black women’s wombs to the advancement of modern medical science and technology. On ‘Sugar Walls Teardom’, Rezaire writes, ‘During slavery, Black women’s bodies have been used and abused as commodities for laborious work in plantations, sexual slavery, reproductive exploitation and medical experiments. Anarcha, Betsey and Lucy, were among the captive guinea pigs of Dr. Marion Sims - the so called ‘father of modern gynecology’- who mutilated and tortured countless slave women in the name of science.
Unacknowledged, Black women’s wombs have been central to the biomedical economy as the story of Henrietta Lacks – who had her cervix cells unknowingly stolen, after which they became the first immortal cells leading to medical breakthrough - reminds us. Biological warfare against Black women is still pervasive in today’s pharmaceutical testing, forced sterilizations, contraceptive experiments, among other malicious health practices. ‘Sugar Walls Teardom’ commemorates ‘herstory’ and celebrates womb technology through an account of coercive anatomic politics.
