This series of lithographic works by Joscelyn Gardner was presented as part of the event the Manufacturing of Rights (Ashkal Alwan, 2014) and the touring exhibition Introduction to T.A.N.J.

Creole Portraits III: A Collection of Creole Portrait Heads of the Female Sex alludes to the 18th-century practice by slave women on Caribbean plantations of using tropical plants to induce natural abortion. As an act of political resistance against their exploitation as “breeders” of new slaves and to protest the inhumanity of slavery, some slave women chose to either abort or kill their offspring. Armed with practical knowledge passed on by word of mouth from their African ancestors and/or Amerindian counterparts, enslaved Creole women collected the seeds, barks, flowers, sap, and roots from various plants that allowed them to secretly terminate their pregnancies. This series of female Creole portraits is ‘named’ for the botanical specimens used by these women. The lithographic portraits reveal intricately braided Afro-centric hairstyles viewed from behind, entwined within the iron slave collars that were used to punish female slaves accused of abortion. Each portrait also displays one of the botanical specimens employed for this purpose.