Yale Art major Aliza Shvarts has become a national sensation with her claim to use blood and pictures from self-induced miscarriages for art works. The only problem is that it appears to be untrue.
Shvarts claimed that her senior art project was a documentation of a nine-month process during which she artificially inseminated herself while inducing miscarriages. Her exhibition allegedly featured video recordings of these forced miscarriages as well as preserved collections of the blood from the process.
Despite the national outcry, Yale has announced that the story was a hoax.
Yale University Spokesperson Helaine S. Klasky stated:
Ms. Shvarts is engaged in performance art. Her art project includes visual representations, a press release and other narrative materials. She stated to three senior Yale University officials today, including two deans, that she did not impregnate herself and that she did not induce any miscarriages. The entire project is an art piece, a creative fiction designed to draw attention to the ambiguity surrounding form and function of a woman’s body.
She is an artist and has the right to express herself through performance art.
Had these acts been real, they would have violated basic ethical standards and raised serious mental and physical health concerns
New Haven, Conn. — April 17, 2008
The University insists that this was performance art gone awry. Click here
Lux et veritas–finally.