Trigger Planting uses mapping as a conceptual visual technique. The process begins by assembling current laws, data, and politics on reproductive healthcare access. Editing and layering key information and policies, the graphical maps are designed as large banners and slide-shows. As synthetic documents, they highlight the uneven status of reproductive healthcare around the country. As public interfaces, they provoke conversations on abortion issues. While the maps reveal complexities of access based on location, they frame an overall message that is simple: abortion is healthcare, all people have a right to healthcare.

The exhibition, which opened a month before the US elections, is introduced with a map that represents the US as a fragmented nation. Displayed as a large mesh banner, similar to a political "propaganda" banner. Showing where and when abortion is banned or legal, the states on the map are redrawn as color-coded clusters. Closer to the elections, additional labels mark the states where abortion is on ballots. In a second round, the ballot results are posted as additional labels. This kind of “live” mapping points to the constantly changing laws and politics of reproductive healthcare.

For the overall exhibition, the hanging banner also acts as a spatial divider. Providing an overview as people enter or leave the main lobby, it creates a more private space behind the banner for reviewing a rotating set of materials contained in a book-shelf wall: dried herbs and plants, images and timelines, books and postcards, all related to cultural, political and medicinal histories of reproductive justice.

A smaller set of rotating maps are included on a screen-slide show…