drypoint etching; 10×10″ (image 6×6″)

“I chose article 2of the UN Declaration of Human Rights about freedom and human rights. I learned that not everyone is free and there are discriminations against basically everyone who isn’t a cis straight white male. I made my piece about abortion because of the recent laws about banning abortion. It is about a young girl who had just done an at-home abortion on herself, which is very dangerous and shouldn’t be done but she didn’t really have a choice because the clinics near her were all shut down. The message I’m trying to communicate is “My body MY choice” meaning people without a uterus shouldn’t make that choice for you, or anyone that isn’t you. We should have full choice over our bodies. It’s my body not anyone else’s.”

ARTIST BIO: Peggy Mertens is a Junior at Oak Hills High School, currently enrolled in Drawing and Printmaking. Peggy’s work focuses on the interpretation of an Article of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.