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  • Artist StatementBasket Case from the Surrogate Series
  • Jasmine Begeske (bio)

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Jasmine Begeske, Basket Case from the Surrogate Series, 2009. Archival digital image.

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Fertility interventions are a visible part of contemporary American culture. The television show Jon and Kate Plus Eight, the media coverage of the “Octomom,” and actress Angelina Jolie’s multiple uses of in vitro fertilization are a few well-known examples. Advances in treatment for infertility have helped thousands of couples become parents; the procedures are controversial and can be quite expensive. My current doctor has quoted approximately $11,000 to $20,000 per trial of ivf depending on complications and the required dosage of medication. Whenever someone hears these numbers, they always want to know whether insurance covers a thing like that. Thirteen states have laws that require insurance companies to cover infertility treatment. In Indiana, where I live, there are no laws that require this privilege. Insurance does not cover ivf, infertility drugs, or any procedures or testing related to the treatment of infertility.

I often wonder if this limited access to infertility treatments is in violation of my constitutional right to procreate. I think having children is a major life activity. Most view reproduction as an optional activity, a lifestyle choice, and as an infertile person I have not found much protection under the law. Assistive reproductive technologies are presented to women as a private choice, if they can afford it. But I have found this to be a very public matter.

Surrogate is a narration of illness, death, and coping with the longing to engage with the process of life. This installation is a poetic record of my experience with fertility treatments. In 2005 I was diagnosed with polycystic ovarian syndrome (pcos) and declared infertile. When I began fertility treatments, it felt impersonal. The natural mystery or chance of conceiving was removed. I no longer had the option of viewing the process of creating life as a private, organic, and natural thing. Medical intervention offered a glimmer of hope and an opportunity for me to take comfort in controlled biology.

The intersection of sex and science is where I stand. I want those who view [End Page 165] my work to feel that they are standing at the same crossroads, the juxtaposition of sex and medically intervened intercourse, chance and order, organic and controlled, private and public.

In 2009 I saved, cleaned, and melted thousands of prescription bottles. The process felt like a ritual or a performance. The repetition and creation of multiples felt like an act of mourning, remembering, or possibly it was a premonition of a tragedy yet to come.

The installation has the overall impression of an organic pattern or an aesthetic expression of disease or growth. There are sexually charged suggestions of orifices and used condoms that cannot be ignored. The repetition of the multiple bottles, which are similar but have individual characteristics, mimics and emphasizes the relentlessness of the infertility procedures.

The photographic component in Surrogate has a connection to the use of visual language and symbolism in nineteenth-century postmortem portraits, as well as the depiction of absence and loss. A common practice in nineteenth-century photography was substituting an unavailable or deceased person’s photograph for their physical presence. Often a family would include the picture of a son who was at war or a deceased child in a formal family portrait. A contained portrait within an image draws a connection between the two realities. In my images I have included paintings of children’s faces and mirrored or framed images. This surrogate imagery creates a presence for that which is absent. [End Page 166]

Jasmine Begeske

Jasmine Begeske received her mfa with a concentration in photography and related media from Purdue University and her bfa from Indiana University concentrating in photography with a minor in art history. Currently she is the visual arts education program coordinator and a visiting lecturer in the School of Education at Indiana University Northwest in Gary.

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