Halsey has announced an auction of paintings they created while on stage on a recent tour, all to raise money for abortion funds.
During their recent ‘Love and Power’ US tour, Halsey would often paint during certain songs, and the creations are now going under the hammer.
In association with Sotheby’s Contemporary Discoveries auction, fans have the opportunity to bid on paintings from gigs in Alabama, Nashville, Detroit, Boston and Portland from now until July 19.
All proceeds from the auction of the works will go to the National Network of Abortion Funds following the reversal of Roe v. Wade.
See examples of the artwork below.
After Roe v. Wade, Halsey penned an essay to explain their stance on reproductive rights, opening up about whether the birth of their first son, Ender, impacted their perspective on the matter.
Ender was born on July 14, 2021, after what Halsey described as “a beautiful labor”. They explained that they’d suffered three miscarriages before their 24th birthday, with one resulting in the need for a medical abortion to prevent them from going into sepsis. “It seemed a cruel irony that I could get pregnant with ease but struggled to maintain a pregnancy,” they wrote, noting that they were reminded of that experience while giving birth to Ender.
“There was the same sterile smell,” they continued. “The same white sheets and unnerving noises of beeping and commotion. But when Ender was born, the world went silent. My body, which I had loathed for years for routinely ‘failing,’ had done everything right. I shed a single tear in the exhaustion of post-labor. A tear of happiness that my body knew exactly what to do.
“My life’s long chapter of miscarriages and abortions was reduced to a page in that moment. It was simply divided into ‘before’ this moment and all things that would come after it. Years of blood and pain and misery from near-perilous and unwanted pregnancies, then the euphoria of chosen motherhood.”
Halsey went on to say, however, that the birth of Ender did not influence their stance on the opinion that every person with a uterus should have safe, legal and accessible access to abortion. “In fact, I have never felt more strongly about it,” they said. “My abortion saved my life and gave way for my son to have his.
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