BIO
Bio
Michelle Hartney is a Chicago-based artist and activist whose work engages deeply with issues of reproductive justice, gender, and healthcare in the United States. Through mediums like fiber, ceramics, wood, embroidery, and social practice, she creates projects that address critical topics such as obstetric abuse, postpartum PTSD, gender-affirming care, and the impact of racism and misogyny on maternal health outcomes in America. Her art not only highlights these pressing issues but also invites public discourse and advocacy for change. Her interest in using art to address social issues began during her graduate studies in art therapy at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
Hartney often offers cathartic actions for viewers to participate in. She has collaborated with the ACLU, Improving Birth, Association of Women's Health, Obstetric, & Neonatal Nurses, and Birth Monopoly to raise awareness about reproductive health issues. In 2023 she collaborated with the free speech organization FIRE after her piece about the history of birth control was censored from an exhibition at Lewis Clark State college in Idaho after school administration determined it violated a state law that makes it a felony to use state funds to "promote" abortion.
Hartney has performed guerrilla activations at The Art Institute of Chicago and The Met, calling on cultural institutions to provide the truth about artists they represent and context about problematic work in their collections. Her work has been published in the New York Times, CNN, BBC Radio, The Guardian, Ms. Magazine, Vice, PBS, Women’s Health, Artnet News, and Hyperallergic.