#+lucy

Anarcha Westcott was a young Black girl enslaved in Alabama. After a traumatic childbirth, she developed vaginal and rectal fistulas, a condition that left her in constant pain and shame.

Instead of receiving care, she was experimented on over 30 times by Dr. J. Marion Sims, who operated on her without anesthesia. He used her body to develop a surgery that would later be used to treat white women, with pain relief, dignity, and consent.

Anarcha didn’t agree to any of it. She wasn’t a patient. She was a victim of medical violence.

australopithecus afarensis "Lucy", australopithecus sediba, homo erectus pithecantropus, homo ergaster "Turkana boy", homo floresiensis, homo neanderthalensis x2, early homo sapiens from Jebel Irhoud, "Ötzi the Iceman" and neolithic woman Lisar.

More sculptures and info on the artists' website:

https://www.kenniskennis.com/overview/

Charles Keeping (1924–1988), “Lucy Westenra”

illustrations to ‘Dracula’ by Bram Stoker (Peter Bedrick Books, 1988)