Fair is Fair
Fair is Fair artwork by Pam Daniels on display at Kimball Arts Center in Chicago.
Fair is Fair is an artistic response to the Dobbs v Jackson ruling which overturned Roe v Wade, removing the federal right to abortion for American women and returning the decision to the states. The classic protest medium of wheat-pasted paper was used as the medium, and the typeface and formatting requirements of Supreme Court were adhered to exactly in this mock ruling which compels men to offer shelter to any person desiring occupancy in their dwelling for a similar period of nine months.
The work has two elements— a wall-mounted piece which measures 24 x 45 ½ inches, and a scaled-down version of the work as a small vellum-covered booklet measuring 9 ¼ x 6 ⅛ inches.
Booklet version of Fair is Fair by Pam Daniels
The piece begins with the following statement:
“Whereas U.S. women can now be compelled to house an unwanted or dangerous occupant within their body and to nourish and sustain that being for a period of nine months followed by painful expulsion, U.S. men are hereby ordered to accept any visitor who seeks entry into their home, whether through invitation or forced entry, and to offer said visitor a place of residence for a similar period of nine months.”
Fair is Fair by Pam Daniels, wall-mounted version. 24 x 45 ½ inches (wheat-pasted paper on india-inked plywood)
A careful reading of the ruling itself will reveal the origin of many of the phrases selected in this piece.
On the topic of liberty, here's the actual ruling:
In Fair is Fair, this becomes:
The fact that abortion rights affect only one gender is addressed by the Court as follows:
Which the artwork then turns into:
The Supreme Court ruling ends with an admonition directed specifically to women to use their voting rights to effect change state by state, as indicated below.
Which is turned on its head to point out the power imbalance between U.S. men and women in the “Opinion of the Artist” offered in Fair is Fair.
The closing words of Fair is Fair also echo the actual Dobbs vs. Jackson ruling shown below (highlighted), but with equity restored between the genders.
By turning the tables on who is mandated to offer shelter and expanding the ruling to include men, this mock ruling is intended to build empathy for U.S. women’s loss of bodily autonomy.
Full text of the artwork is available as a PDF here.
The work will be on display at Woman Made Gallery in Chicago for the Feminism 250: Woman Made America juried show from August 29 – September 26, 2026. It was first exhibited at the Kimball Arts Center during the Super Surface Art Show in November 2023 and For similar thematic works, see also “Bluntspeak” and “(A Woman is More than) A Vase with a Face.”