Abstract
The interrelation of scientific and aesthetic visual norms employed in anatomic sculptures opens novel and effective persuasive registers in debates around bodily autonomy. Using Damien Hirst’s installation The Miraculous Journey as a case study, this study posits that these visual representations of reproduction signify beyond the body, demonstrating the ways that pregnancy and childbirth embody political, national, and cultural possibilities. Tracing the sculptures’ adoption as evidence by anti-abortion activists in United States debates over abortion care, this article argues that the liminal disciplinary site of the sculptures makes them uniquely effective in humanizing the fetus. While there is a growing body of work examining the rhetorical function of visualizing technologies in medical practice, there is little work on the function of such images in public culture. This article responds to calls from rhetoricians of STEMM for further examination of science’s visual rhetoric, as well as greater engagement with non-expert rhetorics of science.
- Journal
- Rhetoric of Health and Medicine
- Published
- 2018-12-11
- DOI
- 10.5744/rhm.2018.1015
- CompPile
- Search in CompPile ↗
- Open Access
- OA PDF Gold
- Topics
- Export
- BibTeX RIS
Citation Context
Cited by in this index (1)
-
Stone et al. (2020)Reflections: A Journal of Community-Engaged Writing and Rhetoric
References (0)
No references on file for this article.
Related Articles
-
Res Rhetorica Jun 2025The rhetoric of anger: A case study of Polish farmers’ protests against the import of grain from Ukraine ↗Magdalena Mateja
-
Rhetoric & Public Affairs Dec 2024Benjamin Firgens
-
Pedagogy Oct 2023rhetorical criticism first-year composition writing pedagogy writing across the curriculum two-year college teacher development collaborative writing assessment writing centers qualitative research multimodality literacy studies race and writing gender and writing disability studies affect and writing literary studies book reviews editorial matter
-
Rhetoric & Public Affairs Mar 2023Carly S. Woods
-
Rhetoric Society Quarterly Jan 2023Megan Poole