JOCELYN FOYE ADVOCATING THROUGH ART FOR REPRODUCTIVE AND LGBTQ + PROTECTIONS
The 2016 presidential election marked a major political shift in the United States and highlighted the country’ s deep divisions in race, class and gender. Communities across the nation were divided like never before, even in Rhode Island.
Sculpture artist Jocelyn Foye recognized this schism and, along with four co-founders, started the“ Creating Together” lecture series at Hera Gallery in South Kingstown to address relevant topics. The series, streamed online throughout 2017, was overwhelmingly received.
After seeing the response, she and the co-organizers founded The Womxn Project, a nonprofit organization that advocates for reproductive freedom, gender equity and LGBTQ + rights. The group uses a combination of art and activism—“ artivism”— along with civic engagement and policy advancement to make Rhode Island a more socially just state.
“ I don’ t think that art and politics can be separated,” Foye says.“ I think that there is a deeply necessary relationship between them.”
Early on, The Womxn Project advocated for the Reproductive Privacy Act, which codified the protections afforded by Roe v. Wade into state law. It passed in 2019, in part due to the grassroots activism of The Womxn Project and other organizations.
With a background as a spectacle-based artist, Foye has worked as a graphic designer and taught graphic and web design and sculpture at El Camino College in California. She used her visual and design skills to amplify The Womxn Project’ s message, growing its presence on social media and drawing in a crowd of supporters who resonated with their mission.
“ I always felt like it was important to stand up for the lesser voices in the room, and I often got myself in trouble for that,” Foye says.“ I do believe that the training as a fine artist teaches you about how to respond to injustice … I believe that all art is political.”
The Womxn Project recently moved into a new headquarters at 301 Harris Ave. in Providence. Called the A | R | T Lab— short for Artivism, Research and Tactics in Community— the space supports art activism related to reproductive rights and LGBTQ + protections. The building, Foye says, is an incubator and hub for people to feel empowered and conduct their own art activism.
It hosts an exhibition space, makers’ workshops and lectures and serves as the home of The Womxn Project Education Fund, the organization’ s art and education branch. The group’ s goal for the upcoming year is to provide artists with a safe, empowering space to create and share their work. Members will also continue working on policy advocacy and the Bodily Freedom Forever Index, a tool that shows where candidates stand on reproductive and LGBTQ + rights.
“ My hope is that we, as a society, decide to truly build what real democracy looks like, which includes all the voices rather than [ only ] the white cis male voices in America,” Foye says.“ I hope [ The Womxn Project ] inspires people to want to run and to do better for their community and truly listen to who’ s their neighbor and think about people outside of their own frame of life.”— Erin Malinn
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