“Danger of nostalgia in wallpaper form (in utero)” appears, at first, to be a lovely, innocuous patterned wall, though the installation in fact features dozens of wire coat hangers shaped and soldered by hand to display the repeated form of the female reproductive system. By installing her piece in the style of ornate wallpaper, Martz manipulates the symbol of self-induced abortions into something fit to adorn even the most elegant dining room, thus hiding a taboo in plain sight. “Danger of nostalgia” is the result of a painstaking effort to create a repeating pattern without the use of mass-production technology. Martz bends and attaches each piece of wire herself, a process which connects the piece to both the arduous fight for women’s rights and a long tradition of handmade art.

Just as William Morris, founder of the British Arts and Crafts movement, returned to the craftsmanship of the Middle Ages in order to rebel against the unjust industrialization of the Victorian Era, Martz looks to Morris and his wallpaper to imbue “danger of nostalgia” with the same spirit of rebellion which drove the Pre-Raphaelites to success over their circumstances. Martz chose the brilliant field of blue-green in her installation as a direct reference to Morris’s unique use of pigment. Famously, Morris developed his pigments using the arsenic mined by his family. These pigments went on to not only enrich home design but revolutionize the art world, though all the while indiscriminately poisoning affluent Victorian families and impoverished factory workers alike.

Martz’s tableau of coat hangers against arsenic blue thus does something more than smuggle discussion of reproductive rights under the guise of wall decoration. Chants of “Make America Great Again” prompt Martz to wonder how far into the past we must look for greatness, and here, by placing her piece in conversation with Morris and the other Pre-Raphaelites, Martz warns of the danger of romanticizing the past. History often showcases the Victorian Era as a triumph of innovation and progress, but the work of the Pre-Raphaelites exposes the loss of humanity which accompanied the rise of industrialization. Likewise, Martz presents a vivid reminder of what dressed up and disguised gore exists in the absence of women’s rights. Martz encourages us to question what else might lurk beneath the surface, be it in history, in society, or in ourselves. If not arsenic in wallpaper or coat hangers in women, then what are our society’s other veiled atrocities, and how, with our own two hands, can we confront them?