What to expect from the ‘Trigger Planting 2.0 & Abortion in Context' exhibit
The Milstein Center recently unveiled its “Trigger Planting 2.0 & Abortion in Context” exhibit, which addresses the state of reproductive rights in the U.S.
Photography by Jeanine Huang/The Barnard Bulletin
October 22, 2024
“What can plants teach us?”
Prior to attending “Trigger Planting 2.0 & Abortion in Context,” I would not have had an answer to this question posed by architecture professor and principal artist, Kadambari Baxi. Following this experience, however, my response would be that they can teach us how to protect ourselves and the members of our community when health care fails to do so.
The opening of the “Trigger Planting 2.0 & Abortion in Context” exhibit at The Milstein Center on October 9 brought dozens of Barnard alumni and creatives together in one space with the goal of teaching attendees about the community-building power of art.
I got the chance to speak with Landon Newton, an artist, horticulturist, and one of the minds behind “Trigger Planting 2.0,” to learn more about the origins of this exhibit. She explained that it began as a collaboration between herself, Professor Baxi, and artist and collaborator Maureen Connor in 2022 where they worked on an exhibit called “Trigger Planting” together at the international art fair Frieze.
“Trigger Planting,” according to Newton, was created as a response to the leaked draft of the Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization (2022) opinion that would eventually overturn Roe v. Wade (1973) and take away abortion as a protected constitutional right, leaving it up to individual states. The exhibit started as a way to use plants to represent states with “trigger laws,” policies that would automatically ban abortion statewide should Roe fall. It then became a comprehensive map of the abortion laws in every state, which was being updated as policies changed. The plants used in the original exhibit, as well as this one, were not chosen arbitrarily—they are known abortifacient and emmenagogue herbs, which are used in herbal medicine to either stimulate abortion or menstrual flow.
The original exhibit was reimagined into “Trigger Planting 2.0” for the Barnard campus. The new display is made up of many different components, including a large interactive map of the United States with information about the reproductive laws of each state, constantly updated using notes stuck directly onto it. It also includes posters made by students from the Spring 2024 course Abortion in Context, dried plants with descriptions, and informative zines made by the Reproductive Justice Collective, which has been fighting for access to medication abortion at Barnard, Columbia, and beyond for years. At the exhibit, The Collective shared that in 2022, Barnard agreed to provide medication abortion at their clinic and in 2023, Columbia did as well. However, Barnard has not yet begun to do so.
Photography by Jeanine Huang/The Barnard Bulletin
To learn more about the environmental aspect of the exhibit, I spoke to Keith Gabora, lead groundskeeper and horticulturist at Barnard. He was the driving force in choosing, sourcing, and cultivating the plants used in the exhibit. Gabora explained that using horticulture to educate is a big part of what motivates him, referencing the role of plants in reproductive care that the exhibit teaches about.
Developing “Trigger Planting 2.0” was not without its challenges. Miriam Neptune, Director of Milstein Exhibitions, Programming, and Public Engagement, shared that in order to keep the exhibit up for a longer stretch of time, they had to make adjustments for space, as keeping potted plants in Milstein would not be feasible long-term. Because of these constraints, they decided to formulate the exhibit with a combination of dried plants indoors and potted plants outdoors. Currently located outside of Diana, the potted versions of the dried herbs displayed in the exhibit will eventually be planted in the space between Milstein and Barnard Hall. Many of the plants used, like Black Cohosh and Wild Bergamot, are not easy to come by—Gabora and the team were still able to pull it off, demonstrating the hard work required to make this exhibit possible.
“The dried herbs became the solution to being able to still remind people that these plants are part of the story, and Landon found this beautiful way to display those,” said Neptune.
Photography by Jeanine Huang/The Barnard Bulletin
The dried plants are primarily hanging upside down and their descriptions are right beside them. Using herbs in the gallery space and potted plants outside allowed the exhibit to visually display the plants while not compromising the integrity of the original.
Neptune encourages people to spend time learning about each herb and its story. “They connect us to the long history of how people have had to find ways to be able to exercise control over their bodies in partnership with plants,” she explained about the decision to display plants. “It exists in every culture and usually it’s the women, the people who can give birth and who help facilitate birth, who also know how to enable someone to choose not to give birth and they learn what’s in the environment that allows us to exercise that right.”
Baxi expressed a similar idea, saying that “to use plants is to really evoke that people and women know how to manage their own reproductive health.”
For Newton, “plants are themselves very collaborative, so they invite you into these spaces of relation. I think it feels very necessary to collaborate with plants and bring them into the conversation.”
Newton and all exhibit organizers seemed to extend this spirit of collaboration beyond the plants. They acknowledged the efforts that made this exhibit possible, underscoring its community focus. They thanked the Barnard Library, Milstein Center, Exhibitions Advisory Committee, funding team, Development Office, installation team, Facilities, AV team, and student interns for their roles in bringing “Trigger Planting 2.0” to Barnard’s campus.
It feels fitting to conclude with the reflections of Barnard student intern Silvia Giordano, who worked on translating the plant names from the indigenous languages of the Lenape and Wappinger people. She emphasized the significance of boundaries—how quickly the rules surrounding reproductive rights can shift from state to state. She described how, in this context, the use of plants is particularly powerful; they transcend these artificial boundaries, reminding us of our shared humanity and connectedness.
Giordano calls viewers of the exhibit to action: “I would want them to leave with a motivation to contribute to either this exhibition or just the politics in general that they’re interested in.” This sentiment captures the essence of “Trigger Planting 2.0”—it’s not just an exhibit, but a movement encouraging individuals to engage in the discourse surrounding reproductive rights and community health.